Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www. archive.org/details/cu31924003717901 @ SF 523 PB \3ne ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY New York STATE COLLEGES OF AGRICULTURE AND HoME ECONOMICS AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY EVERETT FRANKLIN PHILLIPS BEEKEEPING LIBRARY HANDY BOOK OF BEES THE HANDY BOOK OF BEES BEING A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THEIR PROFITABLE MANAGEMENT BY A. PETTIGREW SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND IMPROVED WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS EDINBURGH AND LONDON MDCCCLXXV PREFACE. ay oe —_ Some years ago, I was induced by my respected friend, Mr W. Thomson, then editor of ‘The Gar- dener, to contribute a series of articles on bees for that periodical. Mr Thomson heralded these ar- ticles with a few complimentary remarks. He then said: “ We had practical proof of the extraordinary success resulting from Mr Pettigrew’s system of bee- management when he was our foreman in the gar- dens at Wrotham Park, Middlesex, twenty-five years ago. We assure our readers who may peruse his letters, that though he may recommend what may clash violently with their present knowledge of the subject, he is, notwithstanding, a safe guide; and that where profit is the object, no writer that we have ever read can be compared to him. We predi- cate that his letters will be of far greater value to all “interested than the cost of the journal for many years to come.” My father, James Pettigrew, was a labouring man, and perhaps the greatest bee-keeper that Scotland ever produced. He was so successful and enthusi- astic in the management of his bees that he earned ie & vi PREFACE. and received the cognomen of “ The Bee-man ;” and by this name he was well known for thirty years in a wider circle than the parish of Carluke, Lanark- shire, in which he resided. The district of the parish in which he lived when he kept most hives, took then the name of “ Honey Bank,” which it still bears. While a common labouring man he saved a great deal of money from his bees ; indeed it was reported in the Glasgow newspapers that he realised £100 profit from them, one season. His example and success have, twenty-five years after his death, not yet lost their influence on the successful bee- keepers of Carluke, who say, “The old bee-man taught us all we know.” The bee-man saved money enough to purchase the Black Bull Inn of the village, and therein commence business as a publican and butcher. When his sons reached their teens, the management of his bees was left in great measure to them.. It was then that the foundation of what I know of bees was laid ; and though I left my native village thirty-five years ago, I am still known there as “the bee-man’s son.” As most readers of a book like to know a little of the author, I may be par- doned the egotism of saying, that at the age of eight- een I was apprenticed to the occupation of gardening at Carstairs House. In about four years afterwards I went to London to pursue my business. While an apprentice at Carstairs, and a journeyman in Middle- sex, I kept bees in “ hidden places” in the planta- tions and shrubberies; and while acting in the capacity of head gardener, managed the bees of my PREFACE. vii employers. Now I have a small garden of my own, in which bees are kept for profit. Such is a brief outline of my history. The work before the reader, then, is a practical one, and written by a practical man. Indeed the book is simply an exposition of a system of management practised by my father for forty years ; and profitably, for forty years since his day, by myself and others. Dr M‘Kenzie, in a small book on bees, says he was induced to study the subject from the fact that one of his two labouring men, having found a swarm of bees in a hedge, and therewith commenced bee- keeping, was enabled to go without his wages till they were earned. Previously, both labourers got their wages in advance. The lift given to the one man by the possession of this fugitive swarm was so pleasing to the Doctor, that he commenced to read works on bees, and study their management both in this country and on the Continent. This little in- cident shows what a swarm or two of bees may do for a poor labourer. Indeed there are few things more profitable to cottagers living in the country or on the skirts of towns, than a few swarms of bees, or more easily managed. “ Bees,” says Cobbett, “are of great use in a house, on account of the honey, the wax, and the swarms they produce: they cost noth- ing to keep, and want nothing but a little care.” In bee-keeping I reckon the question of profit is of first importance. Stings do not seem half so pain- ful to the man whose annual proceeds of bee-keep- ing amount to £10, or £20, or £50. It is my desire, vill PREFACE. therefore, in this work to show how bees may be kept with both profit and pleasure. In addition to the profits of bees, there is a fund of interest and enjoyment derived from keeping them, uplifting in its nature and tendencies. One of the most pleas- ing sights on earth is that of a son of toil, after the labour of the day is done, taking a child in his hand, and going to see his pig, or cow, or bees in his gar- den. Who has not seen hundreds of working men charmed beyond description in attending to their bees or cows! I hold that all employers of labour would do well to encourage their servants to spend their leisure hours in a profitable way. A. PETTIGREW. NOTE TO THE SECOND EDITION. THE author gratefully acknowledges the many fa- vourable notices of the first edition of this book by the press, and the kindly reception it met with from the bee-loving community. More gratifying still are the statements and evi- dences of private letters to the author. Hundreds of apiarians, in all positions of society, are now masters of the art of bee-keeping, and are ‘successfully prac- tising the system of management unfolded in the | pages of this work. He trusts that this edition will be found as useful as the first, in giving its readers a firm grasp of the subject ; and that it will encourage all who are seek- ing profit or honey from bee-keeping, to carry into practice most of its lessons. A. PETTIGREW. SaLz, CHESHIRE, 8th February 1875. CONTENTS. PART FIRST. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BEES, CHAPTER I. PAGE The queen bee, .....-....c0ceeeenees 1 Her shape and appearance,..... 1 Mother and monarch, aioe et The age of qucens,.........:..00666 2 How long in being hatched?... 2 The food of princesses,........... 3 The fertilisation of queens, ..... 4 Where fertilisation takes place, 6 Sometimes lost on their mar- riage-tour,.... 6 Egg-laying, a3 7 How many eggs laid daily 8 The BOR68 OF ORES isn cenvia ae The ovaries of queens,............ 9 The eggs of virgin or unmated QU CONS 6 se istic cnishocnananncendids 10 CHAPTER II. Drones). screwed auesearaccer 10 How long in their cells a Why so many ?... 1 Their idleness,.... « al Their sorrowful end,.............. 12 CHAPTER III. Working bees,.... teen 18 Imperfect females, .............. 13 Possess five senses, Their industry,..... Their ingenuity,. THIF COUTALE, cas). cavanranieencteas How to tame and domesticate vicious bees, Have bees a language ? CHAPTER IV. Ligurian or Italian bees,......... 20 CHAPTER V. Government of a hive,............ 21 CHAPTER VI. SWANN G 5c sacaueninitviasaoniia nidows Preparations made for it, ....... The signal and the rush,... Second and third swarms,. Royal battles, ...........:cccccee ees CHAPTER VII. HONG, siveeiinahtateeudsneneues scene 27 Crude and perfect honey,....... 28 No two kinds of different plants yield honey alike,............... 28 CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. Honey-dew, «00.0... ceeees 29 CHAPTER IX. 30 | Propolis and water, .....0......05 xi CHAPTER X. BOG- DECRG, scinvennrvnticnecrarenare Too much collected, CHAPTER XI. PART SECOND. PRACTICAL MANAGEMENT. Wiese sea chnsccaadeeatonanddiiiwion eas The product of bees, How much honey is consumed to make 1 Ib, of wax ?......... CHAPTER XII, Uhe: Aplary j.csssovsccersenceseeees 36 How far should hives be off the STOUNG avers sanaveiwossessvenesices 37 How far asunder? . 38 Bee-houses, ........ccccceeeeeeeeee eee 39 CHAPTER XII. The pasturage of bees,............ 39 Much honey ungathered,.. . 40 Can a parish be overstocked ?.. 40 All localities not equally good, 40 Honey-plants, 40 Rich soil better than poor,...... 43 Exposed and sheltered pasture, 44 How far will bees go for honey? 44 Short journeys desirable,........ 44 CHAPTER XIV. FAIS cscecsieswenneeeawesiaiesineseceede Agriculture and horticulture,.. Apiculture has loitered, ......... 45 Facts and figures,.............0005+ 46 Successful management at Car- TUG! sess cccirascacataerncbeleegcos 47 Mr Reid’s letters,.............00..5 AT English bee-keepers far behind, 48 Large hives, ..........ccseseesereeee 50 The materials of hives, Straw hives best, The quackery of new inven- TLODS Senco rsintesteedasisahwaaceays Improvements and success,. .... Shapes and sizes, o The bar-frame hives,.............. The American slinger,............ The advantages and disadvan- tages of bar-frame hives, Comb-knives, .. Bar-frame hives should iis: made OP SETA W jas docaievinweniioasieonrennineca The quilt,... Guide-combs, . Cross-sticks,...... Phe Unicom b Rive o...cscnneauaes 63 CHAPTER XV. Boards) sassaresuultewes eevsimwnsey 63 The door of the hive,............. 64 CHAPTER XVI. Covers for hives, ............-00+5 65 CHAPTER XVII. SUINGS) cose censtd cece 66 CHAPTER XVIII. Fumigation; csssennsvvccrecnsvervsys 68 xil CONTENTS. The Irishman’s secret,............ 68 | Can be performed at any hour, 89 OMG COTAUPOY yi sevs cea vaiiedoweuseee 68 | How to know when hives are Nothing else necessary,.......... 69 ready for swarming, ... 90 Where to place swarms,. 91 CHAPTER XIX. Bee-barrow, viscose 92 Swarming and non-swarming,.. 70 Vacant thrones,...... 93 Can swarms and honey be ob- tained from hives the same SEASON! seuwgiesadencreevesny 70 Swarming system best cana dal Reasons given,...........eccceceee 71 Which system yields most su- POTS A ncnsenrcittiee sy anwsneeemsariver 74 Great success of Mr Fox,.. 75 His magnificent supers,.......... 76 His adjusting principle, ......... 76 CHAPTER XX. Supers and supering,............. 77 Straw, wood, and glass supers, 77 The art of supering unfolded, 78 Assisting bees to fill large su- POPSs sas weeweieeinivedeuinaeens 79 No doors in supers,. 82 Cutting supers off,.......0...... 83 CHAPTER XXI. OS) ens ccicntertendoeiedareacateegs 84 Better for getting a great weight of honey than supers,........ 84 They prevent swarming,....... 84 CHAPTER XXII. INDUS) cccen cotvranicteverinetucccacs 85 Used when both honey and stocks are sought from the swarms of the current year, 86 CHAPTER XXIII. Artificial swarming, ............. 87 Probably invented by Bonner, 87 ATEVAIUBDIG jecssenciesevnccsosroesiees 87 87 87 88 Successors provided,............. A little difficulty with second SWAPS) 5 pctavamcsan wevtncdceyecn 94 Surplus queens,............0e 95 Very useful in many ways,.... 95 How to find the queens in a SWATID oduueinewcmiescastiess 97 CHAPTER XXIV. Natural swarming, Time of swarming, Small hives cluster before,..... 98 Large hives seldom cluster, ... 98 Miscarriages,................ Their causes. vesicles The hiving of swarms, Artificial thunder and rain, ... Fugitive swarms, ...........600. Cannot be stopped,.............. American swarm-catcher,...... 102 Third and fourth swarms,...... 103 Conflict of queens, ... . 103 Regicidal knots, ..... - 103 The loss of queens,..... . 104 Making good the loss,.... - 104 Virgin swarms,.........ecceecec ese 105 CHAPTER XXV. urn outs yet heevesvnireesss vce New honey, CHAPTER XXVI. OCC gy ssicsct ceoscieee eerie vac Bad seasons, Disappointment of beginners, 109 Success is certain to the per- SEVERING oe cmcgeer cuenta canine 109 The profits of hee-keeping dur- ing the last five years, ....... 110 The author’s profits since 1870, 110 CONTENTS. Theimportance of feeding well, 110 What happens if not well fed, 111 Hunger-swarms,.......cecceeeeees 111 Wealthy mill-owners of Lanca- In what proportions mixed,... Many ways of feeding bees, ... Feeding - board, cistern, and PPOWEN 2 ticss eos Siacecanehewneice The express method of feeding, 115 Feeding in winter, 0.0.00... 116 Feeding at home,..............0.. 116 CHAPTER XXVII. The diseases of bees, ............ 117 Dysenitery, cccncseieerereences 117 Fowl brood, ¢s2s.ccacsccncancecanans 117 How to discover its existence, 119 THGUP ADE 550 is acscestuesisscdesy eee 120 CHAPTER XXVIII. 121 How bees know each other,... 122 FRRODBOTS) a j.22 side's, aks ccestsncessate CHAPTER XXIX. Transporting bees,............... 123 Great care required, ............ 123 Veet O a onacorasandatanncciins 124 The value of cross-sticks, ...... 125 CHAPTER XXX. The selection and preparation of stock-hives for another OE BORIS: cosaccnccsndiariixerend Should contain young queens, 127 The destruction of swarms condemned, ..........:eeeeeeeee What should be done with PHEIN, soivccnceosscdsversecavesiaes 127 xii Greater consumption of food in populous hives,............. 128 What to do with very light IVES! rSanccviecacrhuiuicwatesmevag eens 128 Value of fresh combs to a YOUNG SWAITA, 0. eeeeeeeeeeee 128 What is to be done when all the hives are too heavy for eG Ping 4. 2 cdoaeaniaskediea caves 129 Sugar-syrup healthy winter AG OO isis be accreeteticerveadsguiss 130 CHAPTER XXXI. On driving and uniting SWANS) coudvvran since sin stawervis How bees are driven, How to succeed in cold wea- How to shake swarms out,.... Often done in candle-light,.... 134 Minted syrup and nutmeg,.... 134 The hilarity of children and DOGS sed oeveciiveruttancniestlenntindate 185 CHAPTER XXXII. On taking honey and wax,..... 137 How to know the quantity of honey in a hive,...........00. 137 The process of taking honey,.. 138 The American slinger has not power to sling heather- honey from comb,............. 189 Is never likely to come into general use amongst bee- PAT METS ceniecaucbersdvrcrateae sae 140 Taking WaX, .-..seseeececeeseeeee 141 CHAPTER XXXIII. On winter treatment,............ 142 The importance of keeping DROS WATT, a ccna 142 Fresh air necessary in win- TOT, ce seeeseceecenceeereeeeenneenens 142 Many destroyed for want of sufficient attention,........... 143 xiv CONTENTS, Bad luck comes from bad CHAPTER XXXIV. Management, .............0000 1438 Can bees be wintered under When should bees be pur- SOB sca dcwrtegivaccnauyninenne 144 CHESOE ci pcwcsiegaeterscieerenyao? 144 January, February, March,.... April... THE HANDY BOOK OF BEES. PART FIRST. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BEES. In every healthy hive of bees there may be found, at cer- tain seasons of the year, a queen or mother bee, males or drones, and working bees; honey and wax, bee-bread , and propolis. CHAPTER I. THE QUEEN BEE. By looking at the representations of the different bees, the reader will see that a queen bee is less in size than a drone, and larger than a working bee. In shape she is A . 2 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. more like a worker than a drone, but more genteel and beautiful than either. Her abdomen or belly is compara- tively long, and gradually tapers to a point—giving her an appearance quite distinguishable from all in the hive. She is really a queenly creature, modest and graceful in all her movements. Being mother and monarch of the hive, her life is very precious. The loyalty of her people, and the activity of her body-guard, are remarkable. No human monarch was ever half so well attended to by his subjects as a queen bee is by hers. The life and prosperity of a hive depend on the presence of a queen—a queen moving and reigning in it—or in prospect—that is, in embryo; for when a queen dies, or goes with a colony or swarm, she leaves behind her some princesses in their cells—that is to say, in their infant state—or eggs which the bees hatch into queens. If a hive lose its queen, and is without expectation of getting another, all prosperity comes to an end—the con- tentment, loyalty, and industry of the bees depart from them: their stores of honey are often undefended by themselves, and stolen by the bees of prosperous hives. The Age of Queens. They live about four years. In this the worth of their lives to the community is seen. The working bees live but nine months, and the drones are not permitted either to live or die ; they are destroyed. The climax of their history is not a pleasing one. But queens, generally speaking, live four years. Some die when they are three years old: very few die a natural death sooner. Queens are fourteen days in being hatched—that is to say, perfect queens are produced on the fourteenth day after eggs have been put into royal cells. To a thought- ful bee-keeper the length of their days is not so great a THE AGE OF QUEENS. 3 marvel as the shortness of time they are in their cradle- cells. Only fourteen days for the process of developing small eggs into princesses of the blood! A worker is twenty-one days in the cell, and a drone twenty-four days. Queens are perfected in ten days less time than drones. The mystery of this is beyond our depth; but the fact indicates the value of the presence of the queens in their hives. When a queen is accidentally killed, or dies un- expectedly, or is taken from a hive, as in artificial swarm- ing, the bees have the power to make another. They take an ege meant for a worker from a common cell, where, if undisturbed, it would be developed into a worker in twenty-one days, and place it in a royal cell, and there convert it into a queen in fourteen days. In the royal cell the ege is developed into a bee—different in ‘size and colour, perfect every way, and perfect in seven days’ less time than it would otherwise, have been if left in a common worker-cell. This is an exceedingly interesting point in bee-history, and a wise provision of nature. It is a fact established beyond dispute that bees have the power of rearing queens from common eggs. It may be asked how they accomplish this, and by what means. The power seems to be in a substance termed “yoyal jelly,” which has a milky, gelatinous appearance. Whenever an egg is set in a royal cell, the bees place around it some of this milky-like substance, and soon after a little worm or grub may be seen floating on it, and by it this grub is fed. What this royal jelly is, we do not know—neither can we tell where itcomes from. No writer, we think, has ventured to describe how or where it is manu- factured or obtained. If an analytical chemist would ever like to examine this substance, we would gladly furnish hin with a thimbleful of it at the swarming season—taking it, of course, from the cells in which it may be deposited. Seven days after eggs have been deposited in royal 4 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. cells, lids are placed on them—which is technically termed “sealing them up.” What takes place at the birth of queens will be explained when we come to the chapter on swarming. Fertilisation of Queens. This a very important affair—so important that a bee- keeper should know all he can about it; when and where it takes place, and what happens when it never takes place at all. Queens are mated or take the drone when they are very young—viz., from two to ten or twelve days old. If they are not mated before they are twelve days old, they are worthless for breeding purposes, and worth- less for every purpose save that of keeping the bees together till they are worn out by labour or old age. When we consider the importance of the fertilisation’ of queens, the number of drones in a hive is not to be wondered at, especially when we consider that copula- tion never takes place inside a hive. If the weather be unfavourable for ten days after the birth of a queen, she is not mated. Some five-and-twenty years ago we caused a hive to rear a queen in the month of September, after all its drones had been killed. This was done with a view to ascertain how many days she left her hive to find acompanion. The mouth of the hive was shut, so that every bee going out had to pass through a narrow tube, projecting two or three inches, before it took wing. Though the way out was plain and easy, neither the queen nor bees ever found their way back through the tube. For nine days the queen came through the tube, though the weather was rather showery at the time, and was invariably found outside the hive about four o’clock p.M., either nestled up in a cluster of bees near the door, or trying to find an entrance into the hive. Once she came home and alighted on the flight-board in our pre- FERTILISATION OF QUEENS, 5 sence at four o’clock when, the sky was heavily clouded and the atmosphere rather cold. Of course the queen and bees found outside the hive were admitted every afternoon. This simple experiment fully convinced me that the impulses of a young queen for a mate are very strong and urgent; and when she fails to find one, the fault is not hers. Drones seldom leave their hives but in very fine weather. This fact accounts for the non-impregnation ef queens during unfavourable weather. Very cold or stormy weather may, and often does, we daresay, prevent queens from leaving their hives on these errands. Failure is very uncommon in fine weather. About the time her majesty is expected to leave her hive, the drones come out in great force, and make a tremendous noise in front of the hive. By reason of their number their buzz becomes a roar, and may be heard at a considerable distance from the hive. Last year we happened to hear this well-known sound, and went to see her majesty come out of her hive and go away on her marriage-tour. The hive was no sooner reached than she was seen going into it. She had been abroad before the drones had come out. In about five minutes after her return she came out again, and took wing amid a noisy rabble of drones. The statements of some authors about queens selecting their lovers in their hives, and then going away together to make their nuptial couches high up in the air, where no eye may follow, are mere poetical fancies. When a queen comes out of her hive for this purpose, she comes by herself: she has no favourites, and as readily accepts a mate from another hive or community as from her own. How far she will fly in search of a mate is not known. Drones fly great distances from home, and often impregnate queens which they happen to meet. Though there were a great many hives in our Missing Page Missing Page 8 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. cells containing two or three eggs. On another examina- tion some time after, the empty cells will be found all filled. And often, when bees are building combs, eggs are set on the foundations of cells—that is to say, as soon as the bottoms of the cells are formed, eggs are placed on them, and afterwards their sides are built up around the eggs. Some one may ask how it is known that a queen bee lays 2000 eggs every day in the height of the season. Some hives contain more than 2000 square inches of combs each. Let us suppose that only one half of these combs is filled with brood, and the rest filled with honey and bee-bread : that is 1000 inches of comb for brood in each hive. Oneinch of comb has 50 worker-cells in it, 25 on each side. Very well, 1000 inches of comb contain 50,000 young bees, in all stages of development, from the egg up. These 50,000 young come from one queen in three weeks. Divide the 50,000 by 21, and it will be found that the average number laid per day for three weeks amounts to some hundreds beyond 2000 per day. We have not yet seen a hive large enough to overtask the laying powers of a queen bee. The Sexes of Eggs. On this question there appeared in the first edition of this work some very interesting and well-written letters from the pen of the late Mr Woodbury of Exeter, who held “ that eggs of queen bees when laid are of two sexes, male and female, and that no after-treatment can alter either sex.” We then were inclined to believe that all the eggs of queen bees in proper condition are of one kind only, and convertible into queens, drones, or workers. Mr Quinby, an able American writer on bees, held the same opinion, and argued thus: “If food and treatment THE SEXES OF EGGS. 9 would create or produce organs of generation in the female, by making an egg destined to be a worker into a queen (a fact which all apiarians admit), why not food and treat- ment make a drone?” We suggested some experiments, with the hope that they would be fairly and widely tried. We tried them ourselves, and in every experiment the bees failed to hatch female eggs into drones, and drone eggs into females. Mr Woodbury, and all of his way of thinking on this question, are right, and we were wrong. As soon as we were satisfied on the question, we published our change of views in the columns of the ‘Journal of Horticulture,’ and there gave an account of the experi- ments which led to the change. A bit of drone-comb containing eggs was placed amongst some bees which had lost their queen, and were in a state of great commotion and lamentation for their loss, running hither and thither in search of her. The hive contained no eggs of its own, as the queen lost was a virgin one. As soon as the bees found the eggs, they commenced at once to erect royal cells around them, and became as calm and contented as possible. The eggs became maggots in the royal cells, and were covered with lids at the proper time. On the sixteenth day after the royal cells were formed, they were cut out for examination. Only one of the maggots had taken the insect form: all were dead. The bees made a great effort, but failed to produce queens. In various ways, and many times during the last few years, have we had proof that queen bees lay both male and female eggs, and that no treatment by the bees can alter the sex. It has been stated by more than one writer that the ovaries of a queen are never impregnated, the matter of the male being stored in a distinct vesicle called the spermatheca, a portion of the contents of which is either withheld from, or communicated to, every egg as it passes through the oviduct—and this difference determines the 10 HANDY BUUK UE BEES. sex. If this is true, it appears to us all but impossible to account for the fact that impregnation makes a queen prolific, causing her to lay a hundredfold more eggs than a queen unimpregnated. If the fertilising matter of the male is simply lodged in a distinct vesicle, and does not affect the productive powers of the queen, but merely touches and femalises so many eggs in passing through the oviduct, how comes it to pass that unmated queens are nearly barren? We think that the explanation given as to the cause of some eggs being male and some female is not satisfactory, and that the mode of fecundation may be for ever veiled from the ken of mortals, Also, how the queen knows what kind of eggs she deposits—placing male eggs in drone-comb and female eggs in worker-comb. The eggs of virgin or unmated queens are male in character. CHAPTER II. DRONES. These are about the most idle and unfortunate creatures in existence. They are generally hatched in drone-combs, the cells of which are considerably larger than those of worker-combs. These large cells, built up together, are called drone-comb. The less of drone-comb there is in a hive, the better it is for breeding purposes ; for though the bees can rear drones in worker-cells, they never rear workers in drone-cells. Drone-combs are generally situated on the extreme outsides of the worker-combs, but sometimes they are found near the centre of the hive. It is the position and number of drone-cells in a hive that deter- mine the number of drones reared. If such cells are near DRONES. ll the centre, drones will put in an appearance long before the hive is ready for swarming ; and if on the outside of the combs, the hive will be ready for swarming about the time drones are first hatched. Their appearance in a hive is therefore no safe guide as to its ripeness for swarming. Drones are twenty-four days in being hatched from eggs—that is, they come to perfection in twenty-four days, being three days longer in their cells than workers, and ten days longer than queens. But why so many idle fellows in a community remark- able for industry and activity? It is easier to ask this question than to answer it. They are produced for a pur- pose, and that is the impregnation of the queens. When the importance of this impregnation is considered, the apparent want of economy in the production of so many otherwise useless creatures will not be wondered at. The time given for this fertilisation is limited to ten or twelve days at most. When weather is cold or wet, drones do not leave their hives ; and even when the weather is fair and favourable, they do not all leave their hives at the same time. As the reader is already aware that copula- tion takes place outdoors—it may be at some distance from the hive—he will more easily understand why so many drones are usually produced. Better to have a superabundance of 10,000 drones than the queen fail to meet one. The more drones—indeed, the more hives in a garden—when a queen becomes marriageable, the more likely is she to be seen and mated when she leaves on that errand. Queens and drones, the produce of one mother, mate without the least deterioration of blood. In-and-in breed- ing amongst bees for generations and ages does not in the smallest degree produce bad results. The great characteristic of a drone bee is his laziness. He will die of want rather than work. Drones have 12 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. never been known to do “a hand’s turn.” In recently hived swarms, before any honey is stored up, drones may be frequently seen stooping down to be fed by working bees! Drones wanting to be fed place their feeding- tubes alongside those of workers, and thus remain appar- ently motionless while the pumping process goes on. But these idle gentlemen know the country geographi- cally better than the working community. In fine weather they take longer excursions into the country for pleasure than working bees do for food. If a hive be removed in fine weather two miles, some few bees and a great many drones return to the old place. If removed three or four miles, a considerable number of drones return, but no workers. Comparatively useless in their lives, drones come to a sorrowful end. What is termed the massacre of drones seems a strangely cruel process. Well might a great naturalist exclaim,—‘‘ The climax of drone-life is wonder- ful—a chapter of horrors, which clouds the harmony of an otherwise beautiful system of insect-life.” About fourteen days after the queen of a hive has been fertilised, or some days after she has begun to lay, the working bees begin to haul and maul the drones about. Day by day the bees become more anxious to worry the drones. Inside the hive the drones are driven from the honeycombs, and may be found in heaps on the board for days. Here they become weak from want of food ; and when they leave the hive many of them have savage tormentors on their backs. Some fall off the flight-board so weak that they cannot fly ; but must die at a distance, being unable to return. During weather unfavourable for honey-gathering, drones and drone-brood are often destroyed. On the appearance or prospect of hard times the bees destroy these comparatively useless creatures and cast them out of THE WORKING BEKS, 13 their hives. Whenever white drones are seen being cast out, the owner may be pretty certain that his bees are on the border-land of starvation. The lives of drones being always cut short, no one can say how long they would live if let alone. CHAPTER III. THE WORKING BEES. The common working bees are twenty-one days in their cells, and live nine months. Probably nine-tenths of them die, from some cause or another, before they reach their allotted span ; but at the end of nine months or thereabouts, after their birth, all perish. The working bees are considerably smaller than either queens or drones. They do all the work and drudgery of a hive, and do it with a willingness and activity that baffles and beg- gars description. They manufacture the wax, build the comb, gather honey by day, and store it away by night. It is hard to believe that they never sleep, though we have never seen one either sleepy or asleep, in winter or summer. The working bees are female in character, and are pro- duced from the same kind of eggs as queens. The queens are of course fully developed,'and have their reproductive organs in a normal or perfect condition ; whereas the working bees are undeveloped females, with reproductive organs imperfect. The treatment which the eggs receive in their cells determines whether the bees shall be born perfect or imperfect: This is one of the many interesting things in bee-history which is at present veiled in mystery. The same egg may be reared into a 14 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. queen in fourteen days, or into a working bee in twenty- one days. Whether the queen is developed and made perfect by special treatment in the cell, or whether the working bee is dwarfed and made imperfect by special treatment, is a question yet unanswered—and is, perhaps, beyond the powers of human investigation. It is a fact established beyond all doubt that bees can procure a queen for themselves, provided they have larvee not more than three days old in worker-cells. Royal cells and a particular kind of food only appear necessary for the conversion of common larve into queens. The development of queens from worker-eggs or grubs is a most marvellous transformation, and‘ comprehends far more than the development of the reproductive organs in queens, or the repression of them in worker-bees. The transformation alters the anatomical structure and in- stinctive propensities. Queens are different in form, colour, and habit from, and live six times longer than, working bees. They have more slender trunks and more crooked stings than bees ; they have no downy brushes at the joints of their limbs, or basket-shaped cavities on their legs for holding bee-bread. Queens in numerous par- ticulars are very different from the working bees. In this transformation there is a world of wonders and mystery. Bees, like the human family, possess five senses— viz., sight, feeling, taste, hearing, and smelling ; and a very interesting and instructive chapter could be written in proof of their existence ‘and acuteness. We must hasten to notice the industry, ingenuity, and courage of bees. 4 The Industry of Bees. - How few bee-keepers know the worth of their own ser- vants—the value of their own stock! No writer can get near enough to touch the hem of the garment of the in- THE INDUSTRY OF BEES. 15 dustry of honey-bees. Fancy a large and prosperous hive full of combs, bees, and brood ; fancy 20,000 little grubs in this hive requiring constant attention and proper food, and all receiving them in due season ; fancy the care and diligence of the bees in mixing and kneading this food before they give it to their young; fancy 20,000 of these grubs daily requiring and receiving beautiful lids on their cells while they pass into the insect form and chrysalis state ; fancy 800 or 1000 square inches of this brood being built up every three weeks. Try these combs in the scales against a twenty-eight-pound weight and see which conquers. Stand and look at that hive of bees, and remember that all therein goes on with unerring ex- actness and without light: then think of the untiring energy and perseverance of the bees outside the hive— ranging fields and woods from morn till night, gathering up the sweets and the pollen of flowers, storing the’one in sacks and the other in baskets, returning to their homes laden as a donkey with panniers, increasing their honey- stores in weight from 2 lb. to 6 Ib. per day; and after their honey has been twice swallowed and disgorged, and thus made into honey proper, they securely lock it up. Yes; think of all these things being done, together with countless and nameless offices performed every hour, and methinks the reader will be dumb with amazement at the industry of these wonderful bees!! Bonny wee crea- tures! your own fanning wings will drive from your hives scores of tons of the sweat of your labours ere the imagination of the poet or the pen of the historian can compass your industry ! Without any pretension to accuracy, and anxious to be within the circle of facts, we may state that the daily consumption and waste of a large and prosperous hive of bees in the summer-time, while honey is being gathered, is about 2 lb. To repair the waste of such a hive, upwards 16 HANDY BUUK UF BEKS, of 2 lb. of materials have to be collected every day. Beyond this there is often, in favourable weather, a great accumulation of honey. We have known a hive gain 20 Ib. weight in two days. This year, at Cairnie, in Aber- deenshire, Mr Shearer had a hive that gained 10 Ib. in weight in one day. The Ingenuity of Bees. To mention half the instances of ingenuity seen in a large apiary would fill a book. In the building of combs and for- mation of cells, design is strikingly evident. Honeycomb- cells are made to dip to the bottom. Ifa piece of guide is put in wrong side up, the bees adapt it as a commence- ment, but reverse the dip of the cells, so that they slant in the best direction for holding honey. The stays and props so frequently given to weak places and loose combs display great ingenuity. When a swarm is put into an empty hive which it can only half fill, the bees, on commencing work, find that the way to the door by the sides of the hive is round about; and to shorten the way, they let down two or three beautiful bee-ropes, on which to descend and ascend. These ropes are made by one bee suspending itself to another, each bee coming lower down till the board is reached. In spring months bees are anxious to hatch as many young bees as possible, and therefore spread themselves out as widely as they can. Sometimes the weather sud- denly becomes cold, causing the bees to have some fears about their brood being chilled. In order to protect the brood some bees gather themselves into a cluster in the doorway, and thus prevent the cold from going into the hive ; or, as our more accurate friends would say, to keep the heat in. Often is the door so closely wedged up—so * THE COURAGE OF BEES. 17 nicely corked—that there is just room enough left for one bee to pass in and out. On the return of warm weather the protecting sandbag is removed. The story of the dead snail in a bee-hive is worth mentioning. Snails are very fond of honey, and often take lodgings for months inside a hive. They eat both honey and wax. Bees attack and drive from their hive every enemy but snails and worms. These they will not touch. It happened that a snail died in one, and was more unpleasant to the bees after death than before ; but they could not cast it out. Their ingenuity was set to work, resulting in a coffin of wax being built around the snail. The ingenuity of bees is manifest when they are at work on a windy day. In calm weather they fly pretty straight on their journeys to and from the fields; but when wind is high, they seek the shelter of houses, banks, and fences. Often have we seen them flying at great speed along open drains and ditches, and in this way escaping the violence of the wind. And when it becomes necessary for them to leave their sheltered course, they rise like a rocket, and dive again into the most sheltered way. The Courage of Bees. Cowardice is not an element of their nature; they fear no foe, and shrink from no danger. A bee cannot be cowed or dispirited by knock-down blows from the hand of man. If not stunned to inability, it will rise courage- ously to attack after being knocked down ten or a dozen times. Bees are furnished with weapons of defence ; and they know how to use them. We say defence, for that is the proper word ; for when they attack anybody or any- thing, it is owing to some molestation either received or B 18 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. anticipated. The bees of hives placed near a peopled thoroughfare, or in a garden in which men, women, and children are often moving about, become as quiet and peaceable as cocks and hens, They become really domes- ticated, and will not annoy anybody if they are not first annoyed. Human breath and sweat are very offensive to bees, and hence it is not wise to move amongst them while in a state of perspiration. But what about vicious bees and theircourageous attacks? All bees born away from the haunts of human beings—that is to say, in a lonely place—are very apt to attack people going near their hives. Away from their own hives they do not attack anybody ; but on seeing strangers (men or cattle) approach their hives, they anticipate molestation, and are not slow to use their stings. Often have we proven that bees once domesticated never become vicious. Bees that are quiet and peaceable in autumn are quiet and peaceable in spring, though they may not have seen any- body near their hives all winter. But bees that are born in lonely places, and there fly about, will fearlessly attack both men and beasts that go too near their habitations. How to Tame and Domesticate Vicious Bees. Though this properly belongs to the practical part of our book, we may be permitted to say here, that the way to cure vicious bees is to make them acquainted with the sight and form of human beings. A scarecrow or two (what the Scotch folk call “potato bogles”), placed in front of their hives, soon make them all right. The scare- crows can be shifted from one position to another a few times. Some years ago I bought a hive in the country, and placed it amongst some others at home. The bees would not let me go near their hive. A bogle was placed m front of it, and to me it was interesting to watch the HAVE BEES A LANGUAGE? 19 attack ; one or two of the savage creatures were seen eye- ing the face of the scarecrow, looking for a tender spot on which to dart. In a few days they became as quiet as the rest. Have Bees a Language ? To be sure they have. Who has not seen a flock of rooks or crows feeding quietly in a green or ploughed field rise on wing as a black cloud on hearing the watch- word sounded by a single bird, which had seen apparent or possible danger near? So bees have a language well understood by themselves ; and, we might venture to say, pretty well known by bee-masters of extensive experience. There is the hum of contentment and the hum of trouble—the hum of peace and the hum of defence—the hum of plenty and the buzz of starvation—the hum of joy and the roar of grief—the cry of pain and the music of their dance—the buzz of the heavy-laden and the scream of suffocation. The cry of pain from a bee at the door of a hive affects the whole community. Where is the bee-keeper who is not acquainted with the sound of bees bent on mischief? They have not stung him, but he knows they mean it. Often we have let the bees of a weak hive have the honey of some combs half empty. When no bees have been at work outside, a morsel of comb has been taken to the door of the weak hive; and as soon as four or six bees have begun to feed on it, they have been- carried to stores or combs to be emptied. As soon as these few bees have got home with their booty, the whole hive seemed to be made aware that more might be had, and hundreds of bees belonging to this hive were soon busily carrying it home, before the rest of the hives have known that honey could be had. Bees have a language. » 20 HANDY BOOK OF BEES, CHAPTER IV. LIGURIAN OR ITALIAN BEES. As our object in writing this book is to guide inex- perienced bee-keepers in a safe and profitable course, we may be expected to say a few words about Ligurian bees, which were introduced into this country some few years ago. The principle of novelty is implanted in the human mind, and the weakest part of an Englishman is his gulli- bility. A new style of dress, a Cochin-China fowl, a Ligurian bee, if well puffed up and advertised, will com- mand lots of customers. People are bewitched by novelties. But do you mean to say that the Ligurian sort of bees, which is so much praised, and sold at such high prices, is not better than the common English sort? Better for what? Do they fly faster? No. Do they carry heavier loads? No. Do they lay more eggs? It has not been proven or tested to our knowledge. Do their eggs become perfect bees sooner? No. Are they not earlier astir in the morning? No. Do they work later at night? No. Do they gather more honey? No. Are they not better in any sense? No; neither in Great Britain nor America has their boasted superiority been established. Still, amongst bee-fanciers they are fashionable. There is a gratification arising from the possession of what we like, and to many the cost of the gratification is of no importance. The satisfaction derived from the possession of a swarm of Ligurian bees to many gentlemen is an ample return for the money paid for them. But to those who are more THE GOVERNMENT OF A ILIVE. 21 anxious for profit than for novelty we would say, wait till they are certain that the Ligurian bees are better than the common sort, ere you pay an extravagant price for them. We have no words strong enough to express our admiration of the old English bees; and if a public con- test between them and Ligurian bees could be instituted, we should confidently stand by the old sort. We like to speak well of the good roads and sound bridges that have borne us along for fifty years. CHAPTER V. THE GOVERNMENT OF A HIVE. The queen bee is, monarch of the hive; and every hive of bees must have a queen reigning or in prospect—that is to say, in embryo. The monarchy of a bee-hive is a very limited one, for the presence of the queen amongst the bees is all the authority she wields, but is enough to secure the greatest order, contentment, and activity. De- prive a hive of its queen, and we presently find the bees thrown into a state of chaos and commotion, tumultuous to adegree. Let her be restored to them, and there is presently a great calm, and evident tokens of joy and satisfaction. : The workers are the governors or rulers over both queen and drones. The harmony of a hive is so great and unique that it is but seldom necessary for the bees to exercise their powers of mastership. When queens become old and enfeebled, their governors resolve to have younger ones. Royal cells are prepared, eggs are set in them, and 22 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. then comes the dethronement of the old ones. Frequently the old queens are cast out alive. We have known one such crawl back into the hive four or five times. It was asad end to a useful life. But the bees mercifully ab- stained from hurting her. The welfare of the community demanded her removal, and a worthy succeszor in her place. Hence they cast her out, and reared another. If they had let her die a natural death, it might have taken place when there were no eggs in the hive, and thus have doomed the whole colony to extinction. In times of threatened poverty and starvation, a queen may lay many eggs; but the bees often wisely remove them, rather than consume the little food left for them- selves in rearing brood. Frequently half-hatched brood is torn out of the cells and cast out of the hives by the workers. Commands are often given not to swarm, after arrangements have been made for swarming. When we come to explain swarming, it will be seen that it is by the will and authority of the working bees that it does or does not happen—weather not interfering. CHAPTER VIL SWARMING. It is our intention to explain this more fully when we come to the practical part of this work. Though it is one of the most interesting parts of bee-history, swarming and all its adjuncts are very difficult to explain, or put in a tangible form. The building of drone-combs, and the formation of royal cells, long before they are needed, indi- SWARMING. 23 cate that swarming is a law amongst bees—it is an instinct of their being, and tends to their preservation. In spring months, hives, generally speaking, have not much honey in them. Tho combs afford plenty of scope for hatching brood; and young bees are born much faster than they die. Hives soon become very full. Sometimes clusters of bees, like bunches of grapes, hang outside. They are ready to swarm. Preparations are made for the important event. The bees well know, long before it comes to pass, that the queen (call her the old or mother queen) goes with the first swarm from every hive. What about a successor to the throne? When the swarm shall have gone, there will be no queen, no fresh-laid eggs. These wonderful creatures know all this, and therefore never fail to set eggs in royal cells, and thus have young queens on the way when the first swarm is sent off. Generally the eggs for young queens are set about four days before swarming takes place. Inclement weather may prevent the swarm leaving at the usual time ; and therefore the young queens may be nearly ripe, and ready to leave their cells, ere the old queen with the swarm leaves the hive. Sometimes these young queens are torn out of their cells, by reason of wet or cold weather ; and. when this takes place, swarming is postponed for a week or two. The weather may become favourable, and a second time preparations be made for swarming. As the ‘time draws near, scouts are sent to find a place for the swarm to goto. Like a queen wasp in spring, seeking a place to build her nest, these scouts may be seen going from bush to bush, and along the hedgerows in the neigh- bourhood of their hives. When the spot is fixed on, there is, in some way or other, a consultation about it in the hive, for messengers may be seen going straight to and from the place some short time before the swarm 24 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. leaves. It may, and sometimes does happen, that two places are selected, half the swarm going to the one, and the rest to the other place. But let us return to the hive, and there we shall find something to excite our admiration. Thirty or forty thousand bees are about to leave the place of their birth, and comforts of home, never to return. Home-sickness is unknown to emigrant bees, provided they have a queen amongst them. The signal for departure will soon be given, but not before these thousands of bees have well filled their bags with honey. Which great bee gives the signal to go will never be told, but unquestionably a signal is given, for in a moment the swarm begins to gush pell-mell, like a flowing stream, out of the hive. What an exodus! What an interesting sight! Talk about the Pilgrim Fathers (and all honour to them) leaving their native land for the shores of America! Look at these courageous bees in the act of swarming, rushing forth to make the air ring with their cheers, rising into the atmosphere, and there roaring at the fullest pitch of joy and gladness. The swarming of bees is like a wedding, in this particular, that it seems to inspire all spectators with a felt interest and enthusiasm in the scene. Brave colonists! go and prosper, and multiply exceedingly ! Let us look into the mother hive. Why so quiet now ? No crowding, no suffocation, scarcely a sound is heard. More than half the bees are gone; still there are enough left to rear and hatch the brood. Comparatively few hands can be spared now to gather honey ; but great numbers are born daily — brood becomes population, There is no queen to lay eggs. In a short time many cells will be empty, and an ample population, all but free from the duties of nursing, ready and willing to fill them SWARMING. 25 with honey. In this transition state, while the brood is passing into insect forms and living bees, there is con- siderable loss of weight. But what about second swarms ? Well, we had intended to look into the hive after the swarm had departed. On turning it up we find three, four, or five royal cells have little maggots in them, float- ing or lying in a white substance like milk. This milky substance is royal jelly: where the bees get it no one knows. These little maggots grow uncommonly fast, and become beautiful princesses in ten days. If there is ever anything like a regency in a bee-hive it is now, for their is no queen reigning, no queen born—still, all goes on well. + By-and-by there are strange sounds made in that hive. They come from a royal cell. One of the princesses has come to maturity, and intimates her intention to claim the queendom of the hive. She calls “ Off, off, off,” which sounds like the barking of a dog at a distance. These sounds she repeats several times ; and, being unanswered, she leaves her cell, and becomes the rightful sovereign of the hive. She now commences to speak in another tongue altogether—uttering sounds more sharp and shrill. She calls, “Peep, peep, peep,” or rather, “ Pa-ay, pa-ay, pa-ay,” eight or ten times. The other young princesses come to maturity, and commence to bark “ Off, off, off,” in their cells. This barking provokes the reigning queen very much. With murderous intent she runs up and down the hive to find these barking queens. Again and again, every few minutes, is she heard calling “‘ Pa-ay, pa-ay,” sometimes in one part of the hive and sometimes in an- other. And the responses, “‘ Off, off, off,” come regularly from the cells of her rival sisters. This calling of the queens is termed “ piping.” What is it for? Who can tell? It goes on for three days and three nights. The 26 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. reigning queen during this time is seeking an opportunity of killing her rivals, but the working bees ward off her attempts to get at her sisters ; and they too are securely watched and kept in their cells. If the weather be fa- vourable on the fourth day after the piping began, a second swarm will issue from the hive, taking with it the queen which called “Peep, peep.” Now one of the princesses kept in confinement for three days is permitted to take the place of her sister. She in her turn calls “ Pa-ay, pa-ay ;” and if the responsive bark of “ Off, off” be con- tinued, a third swarm may be expected on the following day, or, at latest, the day after that. Third and fourth swarms have been known to issue from a hive in one day. Third and fourth swarms are not very common ; for the bees of most hives find that two swarms in a fortnight are enough to send off—and sometimes they cannot afford to do that. To prevent second swarms leaving, the bees adopt signal measures. As soon as the first princess is born, and commences to “pipe,” they hush her into silence at once. Before she gets one “pa-ay” half uttered, the bees prevent her from going on with it. In stopping her, they make a sound like the word “ hush” spoken by the human voice. The supernumerary princesses are killed and cast out of the hive. It has been already said that the usual time of piping for second swarms is three days and nights ; but it ought to be stated that when the weather prevents swarming,.and the bees are bent on swarming, the piping will be con- tinued for some days longer. I have known it continued for seven days ; and during those seven days not one of the princesses ever closed aneyeinsleep. The piping of the queens, and their deadly hatred of one another, are two of the interesting and striking features of bee-history. Two old queens or two young ones—it matters not whether HONEY. 27 they be mother and offspring, or sisters of the blood, or strangers every way—will, on meeting, rush savagely at each other, and fight with greater fury than bull-dogs. In every contest between two queens it is death or victory. In some such contests both die. I have known two engaged in this deadly and violent struggle roll out of the door of the hive, over the flight-board, and fight it out on the ground. In this battle one was killed and the other wounded. Once we saw two young queens meet on the flight-board of a hive while a second swarm was issu- ing from it. They ran and embraced each other in furi- ous combat; but, as we wished to obtain the second swarm, we tore the combatants asunder and threw them up in the air. Both went with the swarm. Next morn- ing one was found dead in front of the hive into which the swarm was put. CHAPTER VII. HONEY. This substance is found in the flowers of certain plants in almost every country. Doubtless it is odoriferous; and hence the honey-bee, whose smelling powers are wonder- fully keen, can easily find it. The bee is furnished with a proboscis of some length, wherewith it can reach most of the nectaries of flowers in which honey is found. It has been said that at the point of the proboscis there is a brush of exquisite softness, which is used for col- lecting honey, and thus enabling the bee to fill its own bag. 28 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. The honey as it is collected in the flower and carried to the hive is not honey proper. The nectar of flowers is a thin sweet juice which may be properly called crude honey. This is collected by bees into the hives, and there converted into honey proper. During the day, the bees collect as much of this crude honey as they can, and place it in open cells till night, when they re-swallow it, thus making it into real honey. In this process it be- comes thicker and sweeter. Before it is swallowed a second time, it readily runs out of cells whenever the hive is turned up or held a little to one side; but after having been put twice through the stills of bees, it is not easily disturbed in the cells. Besides, the taste and quality of the honey are greatly improved by the change effected on being re-swallowed, Doubtless much water is eliminated during the process. Crude honey being thin and watery, will not keep: like badly-preserved fruit, it soon becomes mouldy and sour; but after it has been made into honey proper, it will keep good for two or three years, if not for a longer period of time. The honey of one kind of plant is different in some small degree from the honey of other kinds of plants—dif- ferent in substance, colour, and taste. For instance, the honey collected from the flowers of gooseberry and syca- more trees is of a sea-green colour, the flavour of which cannot well be surpassed for excellence. It has been often said by others that the honey from wild thyme is richer than any other honey. We have never lived where this plant grows abundantly, and have not tasted honey from it. The honey collected from the flowers of white or Dutch clover is clearer—more like spring-water —than any honey gathered from other flowers known in England. It pleases the eye better than honey of a higher HONEY-DEW. 29 colour. The flavour of clover-honey is good and pun- gent, but not so rich and pleasing to the palate as that of sycamore and gooseberry. Honey gathered from heather-blossoms is considerably darker in colour than any other pure honey gathered in Great Britain and Ireland. It has a much stronger fla- vour too—peculiarly grousey. This heather-honey, though to appearance of greater substance and consistence, is con- siderably lighter in weight, taking bulk for bulk. The clear sort goes to the bottom of the jar, and swims the heatherhoney when both go together. CHAPTER VIII. HONEY- DEW. This material is found on the upper surface of the leaves of some trees, has a shining appearance, and is sticky to the touch. Many ignorant people think that it falls from the skies during the night. It is simply the product of an insect (aphis) found frequently on the under sides of the leaves of some kinds of trees. This insect is most plentiful in times of prevalent east winds ; and it is well known that flowers yield very little honey indeed when winds come from either east or north. In these times of scarcity bees work on these shining leaves, and thus col- lect honey-dew. It is dark in colour—disagreeable both to the eye and the palate ; and is a great nuisance to bee- keepers whose aim is profit. It is a great pity that bees touch it at all. Oaks, sycamores, limes, and beeches are the trees most 30 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. liable to be attacked by the aphis which yields honey- dew. A small quantity of it mixed with pure honey dis- colours the whole, and makes it quite unsaleable. It never candies or crystallises like good honey. Though bees gather and eat it in times of scarcity, it is improper food even for them. CHAPTER IX. WAX. Wax is not gathered like pollen or propolis. The bees have to manufacture it at very great cost, both to them- selves and their owners. As milk is manufactured in the body of the cow, so wax is manufactured in the bodies of bees. It is both a secretion and excretion of bees. In collecting honey, bees carry it in their bags; and when they wish to make wax and build combs, some of the honey goes into their intestinal canals, passes into the juices of their bodies, and scales of wax ooze from, or are excreted on the under sides of, their bellies. Wax, then, is a homespun article, wholly made by the bees them- selves. Dr Liebig, in the appendix to his great work on ‘Animal Chemistry,’ says that “bees have to consume 20 lb. of honey to make 1 1b. of wax, and 1 oz. of comb holds 1 lb. of honey.” We do not vouch for the accuracy of Liebig’s calculations or experiments; but they are stated merely to show that wax costs the bee-keeper a great deal more than he gets for it in the market. But we are not quite sure that 20 Ib. of honey are consumed in the manufacture of 16 oz. of wax. A swarm was put into an empty hive. This swarm, hive, aud board would WAX, 31 weigh about 17 1b. In seven days it weighed 45 1b., and was filled with combs. These combs, pure and simple, would weigh about 2 lb. If 40 1b. of honey were con- sumed in their production, the gathering of this swarm was enormous. Liebig’s experiments were honestly made, and the results honestly recorded: but no close observer of comb-building in bee-hives will admit that they are, or ever can be, conclusive in their character ; because the experiments were made with about 10 oz of bees—a mere handful. Both the weather and the warmth of a hive have a great influence in comb-building. Dr Liebig says that it takes thirty-eight hours to convert honey into wax—that is to say, that the laminz, or thin plates of wax, do not appear on the bellies of bees till thirty-eight hours after the honey has been taken into their intestines. This surely is not correct; for bees that are driven into a hive at six o’clock of a summer evening often commence to build combs before six o’clock next morning. And if no combs be formed or visible then, there may be seen the lamine or flakes of wax lying on the board beneath the swarm. The making or secreting of wax is voluntary on the part of the bees; and this is one of the secrets of bee-history that can never be fath- omed, and must remain veiled for ever from the ken of mortals. Bees do not secrete wax when their hives are filled with combs; but remove the bees into an empty one, and in less than twelve hours they build one or two pieces of comb. As honey from one kind of plant differs in taste from that of another kind of plant, so wax differs in colour if different kinds of honey are used in its manufacture. Wax is made from treacle or syrup as well as from honey ; but the combs made from these are more brittle than those made from honey. In the covers or lids of brood-cells there will be no- 32 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. ticed this fact, that they are always like the cells they cover: the cells of dark combs get lids of the same col- — our, and white combs have white lids. Doubtless part of the old combs are used in the manufacture of lids ; but why it is so used, or why bees will have lids and combs of the same colour, has ever appeared a very re- markable thing. In Professor Liebig’s remarks on wax, there is another statement which is not absolutely correct. He says combs are never built in a hive unless the bees have the presence or prospect of a queen. Now we have seen a second swarm that lost its queen a day or two after being hived, half fill its hive with combs, chiefly of the drone kind. The question of wax-making and comb-building is a very important and interesting one in the history of a bee-hive, and at present, little is with certainty known about it. In comb-building, bees are wonderfully frugal in the use of wax. We guess that not more than 2 lb. of it are used in the construction of 80,000 cells. It is a very inflammable substance, containing, as it does, more than 80 per cent of carbon. CHAPTER X. BEE-BREAD. This is the pollen of flowers. Bees can with great ease gather it, and carry it home in pellets sticking on their hind-legs, Of course the colour of pollen is different in different kinds of flowers. Anciently it was considered crude wax, and even now some novices think it is made PROPOLIS AND WATER. 33 into wax. It is used principally for feeding maggots in their cells, and hence it is termed “ bee-bread.” If it were used in comb- building, swarms put into empty hives would gather much of it; but we find that all such swarms do not gather any pollen for some days, or till some combs are built to contain it. In most hives it is stored in their centres where the young are hatched ; and often there is stored far too much of it. Though some seasons are remarkable for the abundance of bee- bread stored up, and though some hives have more than others, it is never in Great Britain a scarce article in hives of bees. The hive that has fewest cells filled, or half filled with it, is generally the most prosperous—all other things being equal. Bees do not eat it, and will die of starvation with a superabundance of it in their combs. CHAPTER XI. PROPOLIS AND WATER. Propolis is a kind of cement used in hives to fill up all holes and cracks, and prevent unnecessary ventilation. It is a substance not absolutely necessary to the well- being of a hive; but, doubtless, the bees derive benefit from using it, otherwise they would not collect it. It is a sort of resin or gum, sometimes called bee-glue, and is collected from the buds of poplar and other trees. It is a harder substance than either wax or bee-bread. Water is largely used in the height of the breeding season. It is used with bee-bread in feeding young bees. It is collected in dewy mornings, and after showers, from c 34 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. blades of grass and the leaves of plants. In the absence of showers and dew, bees resort to brooks, rivers, and water- tubs for it, often preferring the impure water from manure- heaps. The sight of bees seeking and sipping water, is a proof that breeding is going on in their hives. During inclement weather, when not a particle of honey can be obtained, bees often venture out for water. PRACTICAL MANAGEMENT, 35 PART SECOND. PRACTICAL MANAGEMENT. ‘WE now come to the practical part of our work ; and our aim is to make the reader understand everything neces- sary to the successful and profitable management of bees. This book is not written for the benefit of the advanced students of bee-history and apiculture, but to instruct the most ignorant to manage bees intelligently and well. It is Cobbett who says that all books should be written for the benefit of those who are ignorant of the subject of which they treat. The reader is requested to remember, that our stating certain facts and opinions will not make him, or anybody else, an intelligent bee-master, unless his mind be fully convinced and held captive by the reason- ableness of such statements. All is to be weighed in the balance of his own reason, and whatever is found light and wanting should be cast aside. By the formation of correct and comprehensive ideas in apiculture, the reader will be able to guide his own industry, and rise to a position superior to those who follow and imitate others. Let all remember that those who follow are always behind. 36 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. CHAPTER XIL THE APIARY OR BEE-GARDEN. It is not which garden, but which place in the garden, shall the bees occupy? Every bee-keeper consults his own convenience in the choice of a spot on which to place his bee-hives. Near the door, or in front of a win- dow, from which the swarms can be seen, is generally preferred by cottagers ; for they have not much time to lose in watching for swarms leaving their hives. So far as honey-gathering goes, one corner of the garden will answer as well as another. It does not matter much, if anything at all, whether the hives look east or west, north or south. Hives placed in the centre of a wood or small forest, where the rays of the sun never reach them, thrive as well as those placed outside to bask in his smiles all day long. A sheltered corner, with an open front, and at some distance from ponds or sheets of water, is perhaps the best possible in any neighbourhood for bees. If hives are placed in an exposed and bleak situation, or near sheets of water, high winds do some harm to their bees. Bees with heavy loads are fatigued when they return to their hives, and therefore it is desirable to let them enter as safely and speedily as possible. If driven to the ground by the violence of the wind, they sustain a rueful shock, and have to rest a considerable time before they can rise, perhaps to be driven down a second time. Still, practically and experimentally considered, the advantages of sheltered places are of small importance. If the pas- ture of the neighbourhood be good, bees will do well wheresoever placed. On the housetop and bleak hillside, THE APIARY OR BEE-GARDEN. 37 underneath the hedgerow and in an open field, we have found them to thrive exceedingly. We have seen them placed amid lofty houses, where they were compelled to rise to their tops in short spiral turns, and drop down about as perpendicularly as a bucket in a well, and yet in this position collect from 4 Ib. to 6 lb. per hive every fine day. Bees have wits enough to make the most of every position, A warm sheltered place is, however, recom- mended for the home of bees. How far should hives be off the ground, and how far asunder ? We think 8 inches above the ground is quite enough, and most of our hives are never more than 6 inches above the level of the ground. Is the health of the bees not affected when placed so near the earth? Bees are as healthy when placed 2 inches above the ground as when placed 20 inches. If hives are raised 2 and 3 feet, the bees, when heavily burdened, often miss the flight-board on their return from the fields, and thus come unexpect- edly to the ground; and, by reason of the sudden and severe shake, do not rise for some time—and some are chilled to death ere they gain nerve and resolution enough to make another attempt. If an elevated position has any advantages at all, we have failed to learn what they are. Three posts, about 15 inches long, driven half their length into the ground, answer well for a stand for one hive. These posts are driven into the ground about 15 inches apart, and the front one alittle lower than the two behind, so as to make the water run off the flight-board, and not into the hive. Three round stones or river bullets, half buried in the soil, answer as well as the posts. Some bee-keepers are of opinion that bee-hives are like corn-stalks—if not placed high above the ground, vermin will go in and eat their treasures. A very little schooling will teach bee-keepers how to keep mice out of 38 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. their hives, without hoisting them aloft on ugly single posts. Hives should be placed as far asunder as convenience permits. When we come to the chapter on artificial swarming, it will be seen that 6 feet distance between stock-hives is little enough. Many reasons could be given in favour of some distance being left between hive and hive. : But where many hives are kept, would you place them all over the garden? No, if economy of space and com- pactness of appearance are objects aimed at. Besides, it is possible to place a great number of hives within small compass, and be free from all danger of mistaken visits, or molestation of any kind, from the bees belonging to each. Many of our hives are removed, in spring, to cottage and market gardens in the country. We pay rent for a small space, and make it answer well. The following represen- tation will show the reader how ten hives can be safely placed on a spot not much larger than a dining-room table. Ont neon, «. © 1) Gy i Here every hive is separate from the rest, and so placed that there-can be no mistakes made by the bees as to their own hives ; but there is not room between them to hold a swarm from each hive without risk. As there is a peculiar smell in each hive of bees, which THE PASTURAGE OF BEES. 39 appears to be the bond of union in the community of it, —bees knowing each other by smell—the intelligent bee- master will keep his hives as far asunder as he conveni- ently can, or sufficiently far to prevent the peculiarity from being lost. Close proximity may destroy it. BEE-HOUSES are very expensive and inconvenient. All bee-masters of experience consider them a hindrance to good management, and objectionable in many senses. We have nothing to say in their favour, save that they help to protect hives from the severity of winter storms. To say more about bee-houses in a work on the profitable management of bees would be a work of supererogation. CHAPTER XIII. THE PASTURAGE OF BEES. It is believed that a twenty-acre field of grass, well sprinkled with the flowers of white clover, yields to bees every fine day at least 100 lb. of honey, and strongly scents the air as well; and that twenty acres of heather in flower yield 200 Ib. of honey per day. If this cal- culation is correct (and we think it is), who will ven- ture to estimate and give the sum total of all the counties of Great Britain and Ireland? We remember being startled at the statement of a citizen of Manchester, in a paper which he read before the British Association for the Advancement of Science, when that Association met in that city some years ago. I forget the title of the paper, but the subject of it was the poisonous exhalations of the town. The number of tons of carbonic acid gas constantly passing off into the atmosphere was named—a 40 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. number great enough to quicken the attention of all sanitary reformers, and the movements of the Corpora- tion of Manchester. But who can accurately weigh or number the millions upon millions of pounds of honey that pass away (ungathered) into the atmosphere? Who can estimate the millions of pounds’ worth of honey thus wasted on the “ desert air” ? But is it not possible to overstock a given locality or parish with bees? Yes; though we have never known one overstocked. We have seen from fifty to one hun- dred hives standing in one garden, the stronger of which gathered from 2 lb. to 5 lb. each per day in fine weather. But are all localities equally good for bees? No; there is a great difference. Some are very much more honeyed than others ; and some are rich at one period of the season and poor at another. It is perhaps beyond the powers of the most observant and hest-informed mind in the realm to name every plant in this country that yields honey. The number of such plants is very great; but as there are some of greater value to bees than others, we will now mention those which we consider the best for bees. Crocuses in early spring receive great attention from bees. Much pollen and some honey are collected from their flowers. In some places there are certain kinds of willow (saliz), which bear yellow flowers in spring, much visited by bees. The border hyacinths of our gardens—the same sort that are forced to decorate and scent our conservatories— furnish bees with many a sweet mouthful. Single wallflowers—grown largely in some localities for cut-flowers and seed—are excellent for bees. The flowers of gooseberry and plum trees are super- excellent, yielding honey of the finest quality in great abundance. THE PASTURAGE OF BEES, 41 Apple, pear, and currant trees are of great value to bees, furnishing them with rich and large stores of honey. Almond, cherry, peach, and apricot are also honey-yield- ing plants. Field-mustard (Sinapis arvensis), which is a weed, superabounding in some districts, frequently covering our corn-fields with its yellow flowers, is an invaluable thing for bees. In Yorkshire and Derbyshire this plant is called Ketlock, in Lanarkshire it is called skelloch, and in Wigtownshire it is termed ranches. Here, in Lancashire and Cheshire, it is called the yellow flower. It continues a long time in flower, and the honey gathered from it is clear, and soon crystallises. The flowers of turnip, cabbage, and all the brassica tribe, like those of field-mustard, are exceedingly tempting to bees. The flowers of field-beans are about as rich in honey as they can be. There is some mystery as to the means em- ployed to extract it from bean-flowers, which are tubular in shape, and of considerable thickness and depth. The honey, of course, lies at the bottom of these—deeper than the length of a bee’s proboscis. The tubes are pierced or tapped near their bottoms, and through the holes thus made the bees extract much rich treasure. It has been said that bees are unable to pierce the tubes of the flowers, and that the holes are made by humble-bees, which have greater powers. No one can watch humble or earth bees at work in a field of beans, and remain in doubt they do some work in this way. They push their trunks through the petals of the flowers with a view to reach their honey; but the question is, Can bees make holes for themselves? We have never seen a honey-bee make a hole through the petals of a bean-flower ; but, from the scarcity of humble-bees in some neighbourhoods where the flowers of many acres of beans are found well 42 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. pierced, we believe that the “jemmies” of our own friends are used for breaking through the thick walls of bean-flowers. Maple, sycamore (or plane), and lime trees are of great value to the bee-farmer. Maples are not so abundant in this country as sycamores and limes. Honey is not dis- tilled (does not drop) from the flowers of the sycamore, but it literally lies on them, and is clammy and sticky to the touch of human’ hands. It continues a long time in flower, coming into flower before apple-blossoms disappear, and lasting till white clover is in bloom. The strong scent of lime-trees in flower, and the music of bees busy at work on them, indicate that an abundance is collected from them in the month of July. Wimberry, raspberry, and brambleberry deserve honour- able mention as honey-producing plants. Borage, mignonette, heliotrope, buckwheat, birds’-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), gorse, broom, and wild thyme, are all honey-plants, and useful in their day. White or Dutch clover is the queen of honey-plants. It is widely cultivated in this country, and continues to flower a long time. In Scotland the farmers use more clover-seed in laying down land in grass than the farmers of England ; hence the clover-fields are, generally speak- ing, better there than here. The use of bone-dust and lime as manure has a great influence in the production of clover. Pastures eaten bare by cattle are, of course, not so good for honey as those less severely eaten. Sheep are fonder of clover than cattle, and are more able to nibble off its young heads ; hence sheep-pasture is inferior in a honey point of view to cow-pasture. Clover is perhaps more uncertain in its yield of honey than most other plants, inasmuch as it is more easily affected by cold nights. Some years ago, a stock-hive from THE PASTURAGE OF BEES, 43 which one swarm only was obtained, was weighed every morning during the hot weather of July. On the 17th and 18th it gained 12 lb, in weight, next two days only 4 Ib., and on the following day it gained 4 1b. The dif- ference of the weight of honey gathered was attributed to the variation of night temperature, for one day was as hot as the other. Heather-blossoms, during the months of August and September, yield a harvest of honey prodigiously and marvellously large. This is so well known, that in Scot- land and some parts of the Continent, there may be seen cartloads of bee-hives going to grouse-land. Bee-masters find that there is an ample return for the trouble and expense of taking bees to the moors, even though the distance be thirty or forty miles. On no spot of Scotland can it be said that heather is not within easy distance of it, so that all Scottish bee- keepers can avail themselves of the honey that is so abundantly produced by its pinky-purplish blooms. To me it appears wonderful that in England we have heather enough for all the bees in the world. In Yorkshire there are magnificent seas of it. On the hills of Derbyshire and Cheshire, within twenty miles of Manchester, we find miles of heather excellent for bees. In both Staffordshire and Warwickshire, heather in abundance may be found. In the south, we find large tracts of heather in Devon, Surrey, Hampshire, and Sussex. In Ireland, Wales, and the northern counties of England, it is as abounding as it is in Scotland. All plants grown on warm well-drained soils yield more honey than those grown on cold heavy land. Even in the case of heather this is true. In ordinary séasons heathery hills yield more honey than heathery swamps. And the good sense of every bee-master will tell him that hilly exposed pastures and districts are better in showery 44 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. seasons for honey than flat and sheltered ones. We have known hives placed in hilly districts increase in weight in such seasons ; whereas those standing in low sheltered places could scarcely keep themselves, the flowers there being hardly ever dry. How far will Bees go for Honey ? This question we cannot answer with accuracy. Our experience in this matter goes dead against the wonderful stories that are told in some books. We read of bees fly- ing four, seven, and twelve miles for food! Our bees will perish and die for want of food within three miles of good pasture. Our bees here never find the hundreds of acres of heather which cover Carrington Moss within three miles of them. In fine sunshiny weather bees go farther from home than they do in dark cloudy weather. But even in the best and brightest of weather in June and July, very few, if any, find their way home to their old stand if removed three miles off. Moreover, the return of some bees does not prove that they travel three miles in search of food. It proves that some of them goa little more than one mile anda half from home, and finding themselves on known pastures within one mile and a half of the old place, they return thither, forgetting, as it were, where they Jast came from. Iam therefore of opinion that very few bees go more than two miles for food. It is very desirable to have bees near the pasture on which they work. Short journeys are not only a saving of labour to bees, but also a protection of their lives. ‘When compelled to fly far for honey they are often caught by showers and destroyed. In warm genial weather, with a superabundance of honey in flowers, bees will have it. They go beyond the bounds of safety for it. Gentle showers do not stop outdoor labourers. Black clouds HIVES. 45 often send them hurriedly home ; but they are frequently caught, and die on the altar of their industry. lives con- taining 8 lb. and 10 Ib. of bees have lost two-thirds of their ranks by sudden showers in warm honey weather. Bees driven to the earth by showers do not die at once. If the following day be warm and fair, the rays of the sun some- times reanimate these storm-beaten creatures, and enable them to return to their hives. CHAPTER XIV. HIVES. As we have now come to the most important chapter of the book, it is hoped that all readers seeking profit from bee-keeping will try to go through it in the light of common- sense. Bees ever have been,-and ever will be, profitable to their owners, when well managed. Many bee-keepers in England are fifty years behind the day, and have yet to learn the first principles of profitable management. Agriculture has made great advancement during the last half-century—so has horticulture ; and they are not going to stand still now. But apiculture, alas! has made but poor progress. What hinders it? When the astronomer discovered and reported the fact that the planet Uranus loitered in one part of his orbit, it was an act of common-sense on the part of another man to push his telescope towards that part in order to find out the hindering cause. He was thus successful in discovering another immense planet (Neptune) lying far behind, the attractive influence of which is so great as to impede and hinder Uranus in his course round the sun. Now there 46 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. is something which hinders many bee-keepers from making as much honey, or money, as they ought. More than twenty-five years ago we told them that all the books that were ever written, and all that we could possibly say, would never put them on the highroad to the successful and profitable management of bees unless they kept large hives. We are well aware that it is a difficult matter to remove prejudices of long standing. When water cuts its own channel it runs along it, year after year. Toa large extent bee-keeping has done the same. We are glad to see and know that a great alteration is now taking place. The adoption of large hives by many bee-keepers has enabled them to double their profits, and given a great impulse to bee-keeping in their neighbourhoods and counties. The use of such hives by one or two bee-masters of intelligence and ability in every county would, in process of time, revolutionise apiculture throughout England. Having far more confidence in the power of facts and figures than in that of logic and argumentation for’ con- vincing men that large hives, well managed, are incompar- ably better than small ones, we have of late recorded the results of bee-keeping in our native village, where hives are of considerable dimensions. These records have already stimulated the attention of many apiarians throughout the country, and their pluck and energy are now in full play. If the weight of Carluke swarms rise up to 100 Ib., 130 Ib., and 150 Ib. each, according to the season, valiy should not swarms elsewhere rise to the same weight? In 1864, the weights of an old hive and its two swarms, belonging to Mr Robert Reid, Carluke, were published in the ‘ Hamilton Advertiser’ of that year :— HIVES. 47 “Old stock, or mother, was 92 lb. weight. First swarm from it, 160 ,, ,, Second swarm, 16 45-55 Altogether, 328 Ib. weight.” In the year 1865, the first swarms at Carluke weighed about 90 Ib. each while on the clover; but after being taken to the moors many of them lost weight, owing to the weather. being unfavourable for gathering honey. The heaviest swarm of 1866 at Carluke was 148 Ib. The account of the success of 1868 came to us in a letter from our friend Mr Reid, part of which we shall here quote :— “ CaRLUKE, 25th Sept. 1865. “ My pEar Frienp,—We brought our bees home from the moors the week before last ; the weather being fine, we thought they would be gaining weight, but were wrong. Henshilwood got his home about ten days before us. During that time ours lost each 8 lb. and 10 Ib. in weight. Our heaviest swarm was 112 1b.—another about 6 Ib. lighter. Our best second swarm was 75 lb. “ Robert Scouler had three first swarms, which were about 120 Ib. each. His best was 130 lb. “ John Jack had two stocks in spring, which did better than most. One first swarm weighed 161 Ib., another 104 lb., and a second swarm 68 lb. I have not heard of the weights of the old ones, but he took 230 lb. of honey from the produce of his two stocks. “Samuel Dempster had two also in spring. His first swarms weighed respectively 110 Ib. and 148 Ib. Hen- shilwood had one 168 Ib., and my brother one 130 Ib. “ P.S.—Scouler had two seconds, one of which weighed 80 Ib. and the other 90 1b.—Yours truly, “ Ropert Rep.” 48 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. Mr Reid’s letter containing some of the results of 1869 has already appeared in print, in connection with our own balance-sheet, which appears annually :— ““CARLUKE, 5th Oct. 1869. “ My DEAR OLD FRieND,—I beg to be excused for not replying to your note sooner, but I waited till I got my bees home from the moors, and the honey taken from them. I jarred it all up yesterday, and find that out of ten hives we have taken upwards of 400 lb. of honey. The heaviest hive was 1204 lb., two or three of them about 90 lb. each, the rest from 60 Ib. to 70 Ib. each. We had three boxes of honeycomb, which realised 27s.; and one second swarm, 80 lb. weight, was sold for £2, 2s. The above is the produce of six stock-hives ; so you see the bees have done well with us this season.—Yours truly, R. BR.” In 1869, the heaviest swarm in the parish was 128 lb. And an old widowed aunt of the author got 250 lb. of honey from four stocks. These facts and figures are quoted with the view of stimulating the attention of bee-keepers generally. We are of opinion that agricultural and horticultural exhibi- tions do more to advance the sciences of farming and gardening than the teaching of books and periodicals ; and we fancy that example, even in bee-keeping, is better than precept. When we resolved to write a book on bees for publication, we sent the following three questions to bee-keepers in many counties: 1. What is the general size of hives used in your county? 2. What time does swarming commence? 3. In good seasons what weight are first swarms at harvest-time ? Our correspondent near Norwich, in Norfolk, says : “ The hives here are rather smaller than usual ; the middle HIVES. | 49 of May is a good time for early swarms ; and at the end of the season a good stock may weigh only one stone. This may surprise you, but some are not half that weight.” From Yorkshire, a gentleman at Hull answered the questions as follows: ‘The size of hives used here- abouts contain 1300 cubic inches, and swarm about the first week in June. As to the general weight, that de- pends on the management of them. The most I have ever taken from a swarm was 32 1b.” From Wycombe, in Buckinghamshire, we learn that “the first week in June is the time of general swarming ; the size of the hives about 12 inches deep and 12 wide ; and the weight of swarms at the end of the season depends on the summer. If not much rain to stop their work, a good swarm ought to weigh 30 Ib.” Our informant in Cornwall, near Launceston, says: “In favourable and pleasant spots, bees begin to rise from the 16th to the 20th of May ; but the time of gene- ral swarming is the first and second week of June. The size of hives in use is, I think, about 14 inches diameter and 11 inchesdeep. The average weight in good seasons is about 28 lb., hive and combs together ; the heaviest I have ever known was 35 lb. Taking one year with another, the average produce of a hive is about one gallon of honey. In the parts of Devonshire which I have visited, bees appeared to be treated much as we treat ours, the hives being a little less, if anything.” In Lincolnshire, swarming generally takes place from the 10th to the 20th of June ; hives 12 inches diameter and 8 or 9 inches deep; and the weight of good swarms ranges from 30 Ib. to 45 1b. “We think,” says our Devonshire correspondent, “ 25 Ib. to 30 Ib. a good weight for swarms in common hives ; I have known some 50 1b., but this is rare. Ido not D 50 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. think your figures could be approached in this county with hives of any size.” We happen to think differently of Devonshire, and be- lieve that if large hives were introduced and properly managed in that splendid county, the honey harvests would be enormous. Instead of swarms being rarely 50 Ib. each, they would often be 100 Ib., and sometimes 150 lb. each. Let us now go to Northumberland, where we are told “that the time of general swarming is the month of June, but some early swarms are obtained about the 18th of May. The general size of the hive here is 15 inches in diameter and 12 inches deep; and the best hives at the end of an average season contain from 25 lb. to 35 lb. of honey.” Northumberland is a long way in ad- vance of any other county south of the Tweed that has responded to our questions, Ayrshire, Perthshire, Wigtownshire, and Mid-Lothian, are about on a par with Northumberland. No answers to our questions came from Ireland and Wales. “ Now, come back to the parish of Carluke, and tell us if you think that the great success of the bee-keepers there is owing altogether to the use of large hives.” No, not altogether. A great measure of their success comes from good management. But good management, without large hives, will not end in great results—large hives be- ing the basis or foundation of success, and good manage- ment the superstructure. They go hand in hand, though they stand in the relation of parent and child ; and when- ever the intelligent bee-keepers of this country adopt and use large hives, they will be utterly astounded at their former blindness in this matter. A queen bee lays about 2000 eges every day in the height of the season. She lays as many in a small hive as she does in a large one: but in a small one there are HIVES. 51 not empty cells for 500 eggs a-day ; and therefore 1500 eggs are destroyed in some way daily. The bees must either eat them or cast them out. Now, suppose the bees were allowed to set and hatch all these eggs, how much more numerous the population would be, how much more honey would be collected, and how much larger the swarms sent off would be too ! On former occasions, when we have been trying to make bee-keepers thin/, we asked them to consider the folly of a farmer’s wife expecting large eggs from bantam hens. And we ventured to predict that if Shetland ponies only were used by farmers, agriculture would speedily collapse—nay, it never would have advanced to its pre- sent state, commanding the energies of our best men. Without the muscle and strength of the fine horses of the Suffolk, Clydesdale, and other breeds, what would agriculture have been? Would it be worth the attention of men of skill and energy? So it is, and so it will be, with bees kept in small hives. They are hardly worth the attention they require; and the profits from them will never call out that enthusiastic energy and latent power which, put in play, make the most of everything. Of course, apiculture is a thing of trifling importance to agriculture ; but we hold that the general adoption of large hives sroull bring about a reform and revolution in bee-management, that would confer large and lasting bless- ings on the rural populations of this and other countries. But let us return once more to the hives that weighed from 100 lb. up to 168 1b. Why, it would take three ordinary English hives, if not more, to hold as much honey as was in one of these hives—it would take three or more of them to hold bees enough to gather as much in the same space of time. It is not necessary to say half so much in favour of large hives to minds unwarped and unprejudiced ; but as 52 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. almost all writers on bees, ancient and modern, have re- commended for use hives unprofitably small, we have the hard and painful task to perform of nullifying, in some degree, the influence of their opinions, ere we can success- fully recommend the general adoption of hives profitubly large. The Materials of Hives. Straw hives, well sewed with split canes or bramble- briers, are incomparably better for bees than any other kind of hive yet introduced. Nothing better is needed, and we believe nothing better will ever be found out. On the score of cheapness and neatness, lightness and convenience, suitability and surpassing worth, we advise all bee-keepers seeking large returns in honey to use noth- ing but straw hives as domiciles for bees. Hives made of wood, at certain seasons of the year ‘condense the moisture arising from the bees, and this condensed moisture rots the combs. The walls of a wooden hive are often like the walls of a very damp or new-plastered house. The outside combs, and sometimes the inside combs too, perish before the wet walls of wooden hives. They perish in this sense, that their nature or adhesive power goes like mortar in walls, and becomes as rotten as burnt paper. All such combs are worse than useless in hives; for bees cannot use them for either honey or brood, or even as the foundations for fresh combs. They have to be taken down and new ones put in their places. There is in this work of the bees a waste of both time and honey. But how can you account for the use of boxes as bee- hives in this country at all? Well, the great bulk of straw hives of English make are exceedingly small and ill made; they are unsightly, and comparatively not worth one shilling a dozen. Many bee-keepers, finding THE MATERIALS OF HIVES. 53 them unsatisfactory, have invented hives of wood. Of course, everybody loves his own offspring, and likes to see it bear a good name, and be recognised in society. Every invention is a grand affair! Both architect and builder join hands in holding forth an article decidedly superior to all that has gone before! And what was be- gun in honest effort ends in full-fledged quackery. And hundreds, ignorant of bee-science, are induced to purchase these costly hives, which, in their own turn, are found so unsatisfactory, that purchasers think they will never be duped again. Another invention turns up in the shape of a costly hive—to be managed on the “ depriving” or humane system! Many, again, are bewitched by the very name of the last invention, and spend their money for hives which the writer would not accept as a gift. It appears from Mr Quinby’s book on bees, that in America the new inventions in bee-hives are more nume- rous than they are here, and are well patented and pat- ronised. After showing the worthlessness of many patent hives, Mr Quinby says, “ that in Europe the same ingen- uity is displayed in twisting and torturing the bee, to adapt her unnatural tenements, invented not because the bee needs them, but because this is a means available for a little change. Patent men have found the people gene- rally ignorant of apiarian science. Let us hope that their days of prosperity are about numbered.” Mr Quinby, who is one of the largest bee-keepers in the world, and president of the American Apiarian So- ciety, knows well that common hives are the best, and that straw is better than wood as material for hives. At page 300 of his book he says, “I shall greatly err in my judgment if straw, as a material for hives, does not re- gain its former position in public favour.” “ We have,” Mr Quinby says, “ faithfully supported a host of specu- lators on our business for a long time, often not caring 54 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. one straw about our success after pocketing the fee of successful humbuggery.” In making these quotations and statements, we know that the prejudices of some of our readers, and the selfish- ness of others, will be offended. We are sorry for this, but we cannot help it. It is well known that in fine seasons for honey, there are considerable profits derived from the produce of small hives; but we wish the reader to know that in such favourable seasons the produce and profits from large hives, well managed, are incomparably larger. The writer’s father once realised £20 profit from two hives in one season, and £9, 12s. from another, held jointly by him and James Brown of the same place. The profits came from the honey gathered by the bees, not from swarms sold at an exorbitant price, a practice common in our day. Since the first edition of this work was published, we have received some hundreds of letters from the mansions of the rich and the cottages of the poor, intimating how well its lessons have been learned, and the great success and satisfaction that have been realised from putting them into practice. In the township in which we live (we might venture to say the county), swarms were never known to rise beyond 40 Ib. each till our teaching and example were followed. The best swarms last year (1874, which was not a very good one) rose to 100 lb. each— quite equal to those of Carluke last year. The adoption of large hives by many of the bee-keepers of Aberdeenshire and Banffshire put them last year in the van of the advancing hosts. In a private letter which lies before us, it is stated that the first swarms obtained last year about the Ist of July rose to great weights. One belonging to Mr Gordon rose to 164 1b. Swarms belonging to other bee-keepers rose to 128 Ib., 126 Ib., THE MATERIALS OF HIVES, 55 120 Ib., 109 Ib., 104 Ib. Mr George Campbell got four swarms from one hive; their united weight (including the mother hive, which was 93 lb.) was 373 Ib. The profit from this hive must have been very great. The question of sizes and shapes we now come to con- sider. Three sizes have been recommended: the first, 20 inches wide by 12 inches deep, inside measure ; the second, 18 inches by 12 inches deep ; and the third size, 16 inches wide by 12 inches. The first size contains about 3000 cubic inches; the second size, about 2700 cubic inches ; and the third size, about 2000 cubic inches. We say about, for hives are sometimes made convex or round in the crown; and when this is done, the cube measure will be lessened somewhat. It is not expected that bee-keepers will be guided to the adoption of hives corresponding exactly with the sizes given above, but it is hoped that they will adopt and use hives after their own models, equal in dimensions to the second and third sizes. We use two sizes only in our own aplary—viz., the 16 and 18 inch hives—because three sizes necessitate a like number of boards and ekes, and our aim is to manage bees with the least possible expense and trouble. But in future our 16 and 18 inch hives will be made 14 inches deep—that is, nearly one- sixth larger than they are at present. In fine seasons these hives will need to be enlarged by ekes or supers. Enlarging hives by ekes is mentioned now with a view to let the reader see the wisdom of fixing on certain sizes for his hives—at least the width of his hives—so that enlarge ment may be easy when necessary A hive 20 x 12, well filled, weighs 100 Ib. ; one 18 x 12, 80 lb.; and the 16-inch hive weighs about 50 lb. These figures are meant to give the reader an approximate idea— not an accurate one—of the contents of the hives recom- mended. Inthe months of May and June, the hives would 56 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. be at the swarming-point before they reached the weights here mentioned; and in the autumn of favourable seasons they would probably go from 14 Ib. to 20 Ib. beyond these weights without the bees ever thinking of swarming. How much honey can they gather perday? That greatly depends on the state of the atmosphere, the number of empty cells in them, and the quantity of brood that re- quires attention. Soft warm winds from the south and west fill the nectaries of flowers with honey, whereas winds from the east and north seem to stanch the flow of honey completely. But on good pasture, and with favourable weather, healthy 16-inch hives will gather from 2 lb. to 4 lb. of honey per day, and the larger sizes from 4 lb. to 7 lb. The hive that gained 20 Ib. weight in two days was placed in the midst of good pasture, when it was 39 lb. weight. It rapidly rose in weight to 109 Ib. The traffic of bees going out and in of this hive was graphically described as resembling the steam of a tea-kettle going two yards from its mouth before vanish- ing amongst thin air. From 3 Ib. to 5 lb. of honey gathered is a fair day’s work for a good hive. But why use the smaller sizes at all when we see that the larger size does more work of every kind? We are glad this question has been mooted, for it gives us the opportunity of saying that hives of two or three sizes are of great advantage to a bee-master who acts on a prin- ciple, sound and natural, and with his eye constantly open to his own interests. All seasons are not alike favourable, and all swarms are not equally large, and some are early and some are late in leaving the mother hives. The larger sizes are used for large and early swarms; the smaller sizes for small or later swarms. The shape of hives may be rather conical at the top, or flat-crowned. It isa matter of taste and convenience this. Some bee-masters like one sort and some the other; and THE MATERIALS OF HIVES. 57 some skep or hive makers can build hives each after his own pattern only. We have been accustomed to the use of hives rather flat in their crowns, and we prefer them to those with conical crowns. Here is a straw hive 18 inches by 12. Its sides are nearly perpendicular ; its crown rather flat. It has an opening 4 inches wide in the crown for a super, and a lid to cover that opening when supers are not required. The 16-inch hives are made after the same fashion—all with holes in their crowns for supers of honeycomb. A well-made 18-inch hive weighs about 6 1b., and a 16-inch one about 5 lb. when empty. When an 18-inch hive receives an eke—say, 4 inches deep—it will measure 18 x 16, and contain nearly 4000 cubic inches of space. Now, tell us if a hive of such dimensions, well filled with combs, will overtask the laying powers of the queen bee? No; we have seen larger hives as full of brood as the smallest hive in the country. Before we leave the question of sizes, let us ask our readers not to be too hasty in introducing the large sizes into their apiaries. Begin with 16-inch hives; and swarms from these will fill the larger sizes. \ 58 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. The Bar-frame Hive. Amongst amateurs and bee-fanciers this hive is rather popular at present. Apiarians of this class do not keep bees for profit, and they purchase every novelty. Traders in bee-hives are constantly offering to the public hives of this sort, containing the latest improvements. Though we think the bar-frame hive is very unsuitable for a bec- farmer, or for filling the markets of Great Britain with honey, we shall here describe, for the sake of those who prefer the hive, what we consider are its best and worst qualities. It is termed “the bar-frame hive” because loose or movable bar-frames are hung up inside of it. The bees are tempted often to build their combs in the frames ; and when they do this in a regular manner, the bar-frames are filled with combs, and can be removed from the hive sep- arately. In artificial swarming with this kind of hive, half of the bees and half of the combs are put into another bar-frame hive. There are many ways of artificial swarming, but none more unnatural than this. In the autumn, when these hives are filled with brood and honey, some of the combs containing most honey are taken and the others left. If the swarming system of manage- ment (which is very much the best) be adopted, the combs containing most brood in both hives can be fixed in one, thus making it a good stock for keeping ; the rest is taken for honey. ‘The American slinger” was invented to sling or cast out honey from bar-combs without destroy- ing them. It was introduced into this country recently, and has been but partially tested. It can sling out flower-honey from combs, but is quite unable to cast heather-honey from them. The action and merits of “the slinger” will be considered when we come to the chapter on honey-taking. THE BAR-FRAME HIVE, 59 The advantages of the bar-frame hive are found in the fact that the combs, when accurately worked into the frames, are movable. The disadvantages are manifold: 1. Loose bars in hives of bees are both unnatural and obstructive. Bees are better architects than their masters, and better house-furnishers. Bar- frames are, in the nature of things, a hindrance to bees, by being in the way of their operations. Man cannot teach bees anything, but he can hinder them by placing complications in their hives. All other things being equal, the best hives are those possessing the least complications ; and the best bee- master is he who takes the most hindrances out of their way. The results from keeping bees in roomy but simple straw hives have never, to our knowledge, been approached by any kind of complicated hives. One straw hive and its swarms reached the gross weight of 328 lb., another 373 lb. This last one was in 1874. 2. Bar-frame hives have no cross-sticks in them to steady and support their combs. There will therefore be some risk run in removing them to the moors, where strong hives gather from 30 lb. to 50 lb. of honey each in favourable seasons. 3. They cannot be eked or enlarged to prevent swarm- ing. Most bar-frame hives are ready for swarming before they are 50 lb. weight apiece, and often bees swarm rather than go into supers. Advanced bee-keepers, whose swarms in straw hives rise to 100 lb., 120 lb., and 150 Ib. each, cannot well be tempted to try bar-framers. But are the bar-frame hives not useful to the student of bee-history? Yes, very ; for he can take out a bar of comb daily, or as often as he likes, to examine the brood init. And this hive may be useful to those who want a bar of honeycomb occasionally, though to us it would be easier to cut honeycomb from a common hive, than to unscrew the lid and remove it from a bar-framer. 60 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. Here are two comb-knives, which are useful on many occasions: by using them, we can cut easily and speedily honeycombs from common hives. The one with chisel end is used for cutting the combs from the sides of hives, and splitting them elsewhere. The other is a small rod of steel, not more than a quarter of an inch thick, with a thin blade at the end 14 inch long, both edges sharp, for cutting the combs from the crowns of the hives, = = or crosswise elsewhere. To those who have a preference for bar-frame hives, let us suggest the desirability of having them made of straw, neatly and firmly sewed to the outer frames, and large enough to hold 13 or 14 bars each. It would be no difficult matter to have hives of this kind made, more pleasing to the eye, and much better every way, than any we have yet seen. An accomplished Scotch skep-maker would produce hives that would eclipse those made in the south, the straw of which is simply laid in so thinly, that any one can put his finger through it. The latest improvement to the bar-frame hive consists in the substitution of “a quilt” for the wooden top. The inventor is of course a dealer, and till the invention was completed, no one heard of the wooden tops being at fault. In the language of the inventor, we shall now let the reader have a description of the quilt.- He says: “ For all crown covers, it is the very best for winter use, because it permits the escape of all noxious vapours from the hive, as soon as they are generated. The quilt arrangement comprises a piece of carpet, or other material of hard tex- GUIDE-COMBS AND CROSS-STICKS. 61 ture, with a hole in the centre for feeding purposes ; two or three thicknesses of felt, flannel, or other porous mate- vials, each with a hole in its centre of similar size as that in the carpet; a piece of perforated zinc or vulcanite as a feeding-stage ; a pad like a kettle-holder to lay upon the vulcanite ; a folded sack, blanket, or rug laid upon the whole,—after which the roof may be put on, and should be fastened to prevent blowing off. If closely covered, the whole arrangement will become sopping wet, simply be- cause the vapours cannot escape.” I think no intelligent bee-keeper, after reading this de- scription, will covet or ever purchase such lids; and it grieves one to know that, after discovering the unsuita- bility of wood as material for hives, the inventor has not hit upon something better and more sightly than a quilt made of carpet, felt, vulcanite, a pad, a folded sack or blanket, and a roof. This quilt will soon be cast aside for something very much better. What willit be? We cannot tell the reader what will come next, but we agree with Mr Quinby that there is “nothing equal to straw for straining moisture out of hives.” If wood is unsuitable for the crowns or tops of hives, it is equally unsuitable for their sides. Guide-Combs and Cross-Sticks. Guide-combs are simply little bits of clean old comb (the older the better) about two inches wide and one or two inches deep, fastened to labels, such as are used for naming plants, Well, the label and bit of comb are laid together, and cemented by dropping between them a little melted wax. This is best done by holding a warm poker over the two, and touching it with a bit of wax. The poker should be just warm enough to melt the wax: if too hot, the wax will boil and melt the guide-comb as it 62 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. falls. When the wood and comb are thus cemented to- gether, the wood is nailed in the crown of an empty hive, as a guide to the bees to build their combs running from front to back. When the combs are so built, the bees can see the door from the centre of the hive, or anything going in at the door, which they could not do if the combs ran from side to side. As soon as the guide-comb is nailed into an empty hive, we drive cross-sticks across the hive, from side to side. In a 16-inch hive we use four and five, and in an 18-inch hive we use five and six cross-sticks. ° ° ° ° ° ° As soon as the combs are well started from the crown of the hive, they are securely fastened to the top centre- stick ; and as they are enlarged they are cemented to the other sticks. The bottom sticks should be at least four inches above the board ; for if less, the bees sometimes do not close their combs round them. Hives thus sticked and filled with combs may be safely removed from one end of the country to the other. Another advantage of using sticks in hives is this, that the bees, being great economists, use them for cross-lanes. Where the combs cross the sticks, and are fastened to them, the bees leave little holes or doors in the combs, which they use as passages from comb to comb. They thus shorten their journeys for indoor work. In hives without sticks, such byways and convenient passages are very rare indeed. BOARDS. 63 The Leaf or Unicomb Hive. This may be called “ The Observatory Hive,” for no other hive can be compared to it for observation ; and it appears to us that no other is necessary. In this hive every bee, and all it does, can be seen, as well as all the movements of the queen and the attention she receives. A square or round hive with glass windows is all but use- less for observing what goes on inside. All that can be seen in them are some combs and bees next the windows. But when there is only one comb with glass on each side of it, there is opportunity given for witnessing the inter- nal operations of a bee-hive. As the unicomb hive is not meant for honey or profit, we need say little about it. To those engaged in the investigation of the habits of bees, we strongly recommend the use of unicomb hives. CHAPTER XV. BOARDS. Boards should be about 1 inch wider than tlte hives standing on them. They are best when made of one piece, without seam or junction. But whether made of one piece or two, it is necessary to nail two bars of wood on the under side of each board, to keep it from warping or twisting. The wood of which boards are made should be either ? or 1 inch thick. The flight-boards should be 7 inches in diameter. Small flight-boards are objectionable, for bees returning with heavy loads often miss them. This is not all; for 64 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. bees require breathing-room at their doors, as well as a broad landing-stage. All birds and insects fill their bodies . . .. with air before they take wing. A pheasant hops while he does this, and a pigeon does it by taking two or three deep inspirations. If the pheasant is suddenly disturbed, and has to rise without hopping a bit, he does rise, but so heavily and slowly—with a great cackling noise—that he is often knocked down by the shot of the sportsman ere he gets a fair start. If bees have a broad flight-board they run in and out quickly. Two boards marked for sawing out of a deal board. The Door of the Hive. Some bee-keepers have channels cut in the boards for doors. Where this is done, the flight-boards are uneven and unlevel; but the hives are uncut. We prefer level boards, with doors 4 inches wide and 1 inch high cut in the hives. Our system of feeding, which will be men- tioned hereafter, requires the flight-boards to be level. COVERS FOR HIVES. 65 CHAPTER XVI. COVERS FOR HIVES. In summer as well as winter hives require protection. If not shaded from the summer sun, their combs are likely to become softened at their fastenings, and drop down in confused masses. And it is well when not a drop of rain can touch hives either in winter or summer. Of course, rains in summer that touch hives do less harm than those of winter, inasmuch as the wetted parts are sooner dried . in hot weather. It may be stated as an axiom, that per- fect protection of hives, from both sun and rain, should be aimed at in covering them. Milk-pans are often used by cottagers in many parts. With small hives they answer in summer, but are a most unsuitable protection in winter.. For cheapness and con- venience, anything at hand that will shed the rain off hives is made use of. Three or four cabbage - blades placed on a hive, and held there by a stone, are sometimes used till something better turn up. We now use felt (sold at one penny per foot) largely as a covering for our hives. It is impervious to water, and very durable ; indeed we cannot say how long it will last. The covers of felt that we got eight years ago have been in constant use, and are still as good as ever they were, and apparently will last for an indefinite length of time. These felt covers suit also in this respect, that they are light, soft, and pli- able. When we remove our hives to better pasture or to the moors, the felt covers, being easily carried, go with them. The felt, when first bought, is stiff and hard, but can be made as soft as Hannel by holding it before the fire for a minute or two. When warm and soft it should be fitted on the hives. It becomes softer every year. It is rather E 66 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. too thin for a burning sun ; hence it is wise to place some hay, heather, or rags between the felt and the hives. Sods cut off peaty land and dried, are impervious to water, and make excellent summer coverings. But straw coverings are incomparably the best of all— best for summer as well as winter; and they look better than anything else I have seen used as covers for bee-hives. Straw Covers. A row of well-thatched bee-hives, all nicely clipped, standing in a cottage garden, conveys to the mind of people passing by the idea of comfort and profit. When first used the covers should be dipped in water, then fitted on. Thus they set and stiffen, and may be lifted off and on like a man’s hat. In another chapter the reader will be urged to use plenty of warm materials beneath the outer covering of hives in winter. CHAPTER XVIL STINGS. If bees had not been furnished with weapons of de- fence, the probability is great that they would have been destroyed centuries ago. The treasures of a bee-hive are STINGS. 67 so tempting to men and brutes, birds, and creeping things, that it was necessary to provide bees with a means of defence—viz., stings and bags of poison, which they can use at will. When they receive or anticipate molestation they are not slow to make use of their “ poisoned arrows ;” and every arrow is barbed, so that, if inserted, it sticks fast—so fast that it drags the venom-bag attached to it from the body of the bee. And after separation from the bee, the sting is moved by a self-acting machinery, in- tended, no doubt, to empty the entire contents of the venom-bag into the part stung; hence the wisdom of withdrawing a sting as soon as it is inflicted or inserted. It may be stated here that bees cannot well insert their stings till they get hold with their feet, and thus apply a small amount of leverage. In many hundreds of instances we have saved ourselves by destroying the bees before their levers could act. Some people are much disfigured by being stung on the face; and the question has been asked, “If these people were frequently stung, would the stings continue to have as great influence?” We cannot answer this question with certainty, though we have known men who suffered great inconvenience in early life from stings, disregard them after a time; the swelling or inflamma- tory power of stings was comparatively lost on them. Some people suffer more from the sting of a nettle than of a bee. The sting of a nettle annoys us for many hours, whereas the pain from a bee’s sting does not last more than a minute. Those who are liable to swell much on receiving a sting should wear a bee-dress when likely to be attacked by bees, or when doing anything amongst them. A bee- dress is simply a piece of crape or muslin tied above the brim of the hat, to hang over the face, and some inches below the chin. The other parts exposed are the hands 68 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. only, which can be protected by gloves. Fortunately we do not swell on being stung, and never use a bee-dress of any description. When bees attack one, or mean to do so, the hands should be spread in front of the face—or, better still, a bush held before it—then walk quietly away. When bees see the fingers or bush they are afraid of an ambuscade—as sparrows are kept from gooseberry- buds by the use of thread and string. The venom of a bee is so immediate in its action that some injury is doue, or pain felt, before any remedy can be applied. CHAPTER XVIII. FUMIGATION. This is a grand invention. About seventy years ago, when selling honey in Edinburgh, my father met an Irishman, who undertook to teach him how to carry a hive of bees, open and exposed, through the streets of that city without receiving a single ‘ stong,” for a gill of whisky. Far too tempting an offer this to be rejected by my father. He got the secret, and, I presume, the Irishman got some whisky for it. The secret was worth all the whisky in Edinburgh; for ever since, we have been en- abled to do what we like with our bees without risk or fear. Smoke from the rags of fustian or corduroy, blown into a hive, is the secret bought from the Irishman. A few puffs of smoke from a bit of corduroy or fustian rolled up like a candle, stupefies and terrifies bees so much, that they run to escape from its power. Tobacco-smoke is more powerful still, but it has a tendency to make bees dizzy, and reel like a drunken man; besides, it is more expensive FUMIGATION. 69 and less handy than fustian. Old corduroy or fustian is better than new, unless the matter which is used to stiffen it be completely washed out. The stiffening matter will not burn—will not let the rags burn ; hence we use and recommend old stuff which has lost it. Let us ask the most timid apiarian to get a piece the size of a man’s hand, rolled up and fixed at one end—not to blaze, but to smoke. Let him now place the smoking end so close to the door of the hive that most of the smoke may go in when he blows on it. After six or eight puffs have been sent into the hive, it may be gently lifted off the board, turned over, upside down, so that the bees and combs stare him in the face. By holding and moving the smoking rags over the face of the bees, and blowing the smoke amongst them, they run helter-skelter down amongst the combs, more afraid than hurt. Now he can carry the hive round his garden under his arm, and then round the house, without being stung. Whenever the bees are likely to rise, they should be dosed again. They always should get plenty of smoke before the hive is touched at all. If the reader has hitherto not dared to handle his bees in this manner, we ask him to try the experi- ment, believing that he will be more than satisfied with the result, and find that he has now got the mastery of his bees, and can do with them as he likes. Yes; he will be able to drive his bees out of one hive into another, and, moreover, tumble or even spoonful them back, as men take peas from one basket to another. This smoke does not injure the health of bees, or stop them from work more than a few minutes. 70 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. CHAPTER XIX. WHETHER IS THE SWARMING OR NON-SWARMING SYSTEM OF MANAGEMENT THE MOST PROFITABLE? This question is of great importance, and therefore will be considered as fully as our space will permit. The swarming system of management is not only more profit- able, but, taking a run of years, is better every way, and more natural, than the system that prevents swarming. One large apiarian in this neighbourhood who uses bar-frame hives, once said to us that “honey and swarms could not be obtained from hives in the same year.” We venture to express a contrary opinion. During the last few years our best swarms have risen in weight to a greater figure than his non-swarmers ; nay, our old stock- hives have been as heavy as his, which never swarmed at all. All this has not been owing to their being allowed to swarm, but partly to the size of the hives and our system of management. But after making many trials, we can state that in fine seasons for honey, good early swarms will, at the harvest- time, weigh more than hives that never swarmed at all. A swarm put into an empty hive is doubtless placed at a great disadvantage, and apparently will never both fill its hive with combs and gather as much honey as an old one —a non-swarmer — already full of combs, weighing 30 or 40 1b. But wait a little: the swarm which is far behind during the first ten days of its separate exist- ence, afterwards rapidly gains upon the old one, and gene- rally overtakes it when both weigh about 70 or 80 Ib. each ; the young one now goes ahead, sometimes at the rate of 2 lb. for 1 lb. We have known many swarms SWARMING AND NON-SWARMING SYSTEMS. 71 go beyond 150 Ib. the first season, but we have never seen an unswarmed stock-hive approach that weight. And, besides the superiority of the first swarm over the hive which did not swarm, there are the mother hive and pro- bably a second swarm from it, weighing by the end of the season from 50 to 80 lb. each. Of course these weights will not be gained in seasons unfavourable for honey-gathering ; and in very unfavourable years, when bees have to be fed, the fewer hives we have the better, —as, in times of calamity or famine, or want of work, the working classes of Manchester and other cities find it cheaper to give up house and take lodgings—two or three families swarming into one house, instead of each family paying rent for a whole house. But, even in ordinary seasons for honey-gathering, the swarming system is by tar the most lucrative. If asked to explain how it is that swarms put into empty hives gather more honey and do better than hives not weakened by swarming, we might not be able to do so satisfactorily ; neither can we explain how it is that a spring-struck verbena plant grows more vigorously and does better than an autumn-struck one. As with verbena plants so with bees: swarms do better, and often run ahead of stock-hives. However, we may venture to guess, or give our opinion, as to the reasons why good early swarms of the current season outdo those that never swarm at all. 1st, The stimulus of an empty hive makes the bees work harder. In the absence of combs, all the eggs laid by the queen must be lost. Combs must be built to hold both eggs and honey. For the first two or three days, the greater part of the honey gathered is eaten by the bees with a view to secrete wax for comb-building, which goes on with marvellous rapidity. Liebig thinks that it takes 20 lb. of honey to make 1 Ib. of wax; but let us 72 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. suppose that 2 1b. of wax is manufactured from 20 Ib. of honey. Now, in good-sized hives there are about 2 Ib. of wax. We have known a swarm fill, or nearly fill, its hive with combs, and gain about 28 lb. weight in ten days. What a stupendous amount of work these young colonists performed in ten days ! 2d, The combs of swarms are sweet, and free from a superabundance of bee-bread; therefore the cakes of brood will yield a young bee from almost every cell, making the hatch of the swarm considérably larger than that of the old hive. By the end of a favourable season the swarm is more populous than the other which we are comparing with it. Even a second swarm, in honey years, will sometimes pull itself abreast the stock or mother hive, with a weight of 30 lb. to gain. 3d, By swarming we double and often treble the num- ber of our hives annually, and therefore have two or three queens laying instead of one. By-and-by it will be seen more clearly how invaluable these additional swarms are to a bee-keeper, and therefore the superiority of the swarming system over the non-swarming one. 4th, By the adoption of the swarming mode of manage- ment we can change our stock of hives every year—that is to say, we can set aside one of the swarms for stock, and take the honey from the old one and other swarm, and thus the combs of our stock-hives are full of new sweet combs, and free from foul brood, which is a great advan- tage. Hives with old combs are objectionable for many reasons. Besides all these considerations, there is, in the swarm- ing system well carried out, the CERTAINTY OF SUCCESS in bee-keeping. On the non-swarming system, hives are comparatively weak in bees in early spring ; whereas, on the swarming system (as we recommend it to be done), the hives are of great strength and power even in early SWARMING AND NON-SWARMING SYSTEMS, 73 spring. And we maintain that ten strong hives will do more work than twenty-five weak ones. How does the swarming system secure strong hives? In this way: the bee-keeper has one, and often two,‘swarms to spare for, and unite to, every hive he selects for stock in autumn. The hive selected for stock gets the one or two swarnis from the honey-hive united to it, and thus becomes doubly or trebly strong. Hives of such strength are well able to face the difficulties of a severe winter—difficulties which often crush and kill weak ones; and wher? spring arrives, these strong hives gain weight fast, and are ready to swarm a month earlier than those that had no addi- tional bees given to them in autumn. If hives are weak in bees in spring, they gain but little from fruit-blossoms, which are so rich in honey, simply because they are not strong enough to do much work; but when made strong in autumn by the addition of extra swarms, they gain daily off the fruit-blossoms, in fine weather, from 3 to 5 lb. per hive. 5th, On the non-swarming mode of management the queens become old and die; and at the time of the death of a queen there is a great loss sustained. The hive in which a queen dies will be without eggs for three weeks afterwards, or thereabouts; for ordinarily the young queens are not matured till about ten days after the old one dies, and it is ten days more before the young queen that takes her place begins to lay. There is, too, the risk of losing the whole; for if the old queen dies when she is not laying, the bees cannot raise a successor. In the swarming system, the bee-master may have nothing but young queens in his hive, by destroying the queens of the first swarm when the bees are united in the autumn. We hope this matter is made so plain and simple that none will misunderstand our meaning. But some bee-keepers may say, “‘We don’t want 74 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. swarms ; we want supers of honeycomb. It is not an in- crease of hives, but a supply of pure honeycomb we are seeking.” And the question may be urged whether the swarming or non-swarming system is best for getting most supers of comb? At present we could not answer this question with any degree of certainty, for we have not tested it by experiment. And even if fairly tested by actual experiment in one season or locality, the same experiment in another locality or season may produce different results. We are strongly inclined to believe that the swarming system will yield more supers and more pure honeycomb than the non-swarming one, if the bee-master understands his work, and sets himself to the task of getting all the supers possible. How would you get supers and swarms too? We would have all our hives well filled with bees in autumn, as already de- scribed. They would be ready to swarm early in May ; but before they were ready to swarm we would put a super to hold 8 or 10 Ib. on each. If’ weather per- mitted, and the hives did not swarm, these supers would be filled in about fourteen days. After cutting them off, we would swarm all the hives artificially, and put the swarms in 16-inch hives, which is the smallest size we use. The mother or stock hives would be left full of brood, with bees sufficiently numerous to hatch it. On each stock-hive a super would be placed, for every day the population of the hives would be augmented by the brood coming to perfection. Probably no combs would be made in the supers for ten or fourteen days, when second swarms may be expected to issue. When second swarms are thrown off, the better way “is to cast them back on the front of the hives whence they came, a few hours afterwards. They creep into their hives, and rarely come a second time. The hives are now full of bees with no brood to attend to. At this SWARMING AND NON-SWARMING SYSTEMS. 75 time the bees generally gather a great deal of honey, and will fill supers, weather permitting. We know an experi- enced apiarian who thus obtains supers from hives not weakened by throwing off second swarms. In about three weeks from the time the first swarms were hived, they will be nearly full of combs, and ready for supering, if the weather has been favourable. They should have supers placed on them before they are quite full. With brood coming to perfection every day, these young swarms will not be long in filling supers from the fields of white clover, now at their best. Here we see the likelihood of having three supers of combs from one hive managed on the swarming system. With two strong hives in the middle of July, there is still left the probability, if not the certainty, of getting a super of honey from each of them before the season closes. In favourable seasons all this may be done under good management. Then there will remain a hive of honey for further profit, the bees of which will be united to the other, to be kept for stock ; and this will be incomparably better for keeping than one that has never swarmed at all. The great difficulty in obtaining supers of comb is the tendency of the bees to swarm; and this difficulty is greater by half in the non-swarming system of manage- ment—for it is as natural for bees to swarm once a-year as it is for birds to build their nests. In the hands of inexperienced people, hives that have received supers often swarm before a bit of comb is built in them. In certain seasons it is well known that a great deal of pure honeycomb has been yielded: by hives managed on the non-swarming mode. In 1863, Mr George Fox of Kingsbridge, Devonshire, got from two hives two glass boxes (or supers) of pure honeycomb, weighing respect- ively 1094 Ib. and 112 1b., their gross weights being 123 lb. and 126 Ib., the empty boxes being 14 lb. each. These 76 HANDY BOOK OF BEES, magnificent supers seem to throw into the shade all other results of beekeeping. But in the same year Mr Fox got “an octagon box of fine white comb,’’ which weighed 93 Ib. 4 oz., from a swarm of June 28, 1863. Here is a late swarm yielding a super 93 lb. weight. If the swarm had come off four or six weeks sooner, which is the usual time, the probability is very great that it would have overtaken and outrun those that never swarmed at all. Well might Mr Fox say, as he does in a letter be- fore us, “These glasses were exceedingly beautiful, but the risk and fatigue of removing them were great; and as I never like to ask assistance, in case of an accident, I had to exert myself too much.” SUPER HIVE Mr Fox’s supers were filled on the adjusting principle. The above sketch will enable the reader to form a pretty correct idea as to the way in which it is carried out, and how Mr Fox succeeded in inducing his bees to fill such large glasses. The supers fitted or slipped over the out- sides of the hives, and were let down so far that their crowns were not far from the crowns of the hives. The SUPERS AND SUPERING. 77 bees had not far to go to make a commencement in them; but as soon as the combs came down, the supers were raised bit by bit till they were filled. The sides of the supers being glass, Mr Fox could see when to raise them. He says : “ The season of 1863 was better for honey than any of the twelve years going before ; but, notwithstand- ing, such large fine glasses of honey could not be obtained except by working the hives upon his adjusting principle.” We conclude this chapter as we began it, by saying that, with an eye to profit, we greatly prefer the swarm- ing mode of management. Hives that do not swarm are often affected and made useless by that terrible and in- curable disease of “ foul brood.” CHAPTER XX. SUPERS AND SUPERING. These are made of straw, wood, and glass. Straw shal- low skeps, small and neatly made, are better than small boxes for supers; and boxes are better than glasses. Glass supers filled are the most ornamental and pleasing to the eye, and therefore in some places realise a higher price; but straw and wood supers are more convenient for parties using their own combs, as well as more con- venient to the bees while filling them. It will be seen that one glass is a great improvement on the other ; it looks better, and has a movable top or lid. In glass supers the combs are generally built up- wards, and when they reach the tops they are fastened to them. Supers of straw, wood, or glass, of all sizes, may be ob- 78 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. tained and used. Those that hold from 6 to 12 Ib. are more readily sold than larger ones; but for ornament or exhibition, the larger. they are the better. It should be understood by all, that though supers may be obtained from hives of all shapes and materials, some kinds are better than others; and where the best kinds are used, both the bee-master and his bees are Common Honey-Glass. Improved Honcy-Glass. placed on vantage-ground. For instance, large hives are incomparably better than small ones ; straw hives better than wooden ones ; and those of simple construction are more easily managed, and give more freedom and scope to the industrious inmates, than those that are complicated. The position of the holes in the tops of the hives, through which the bees reach and fill the supers, is of little importance. The holes in our hives are all in the centre of the crown, and measure 4 inches wide. Some modern inventors object to centre holes because they are immediately above the brood-combs, where queens are ever at work laying eggs, and may readily step into the . supers and there deposit some. To avoid this danger these inventors have the holes in their hives nearer or over the outside combs, where honey is generally stored. Both answer very well, for excellent supers of comb have been filled through centre and also through side holes. We get supers weighing from 10 to 40 Ib. filled over centre holes, without a cell of brood or a speck of bee-bread in them. The size of the hole is of some importance. We SUPERS AND SUPERING. 79 think there should be a good thoroughfare and plenty of room for travellers between hive and super. The health and strength of hives should be our guide as to the time supers should be placed on them. No rule can be laid down. About a week after the bees cover the combs of stock-hives they may be supered. And as soon as the hives of swarms are filled with combs they should be supered. If the supers be made of wood or straw, two or three bits of clean white drone-comb, well cemented or waxed to labels, should be placed in and nailed to their crowns, before they are put on hives. Such bits of comb tempt the bees to go into them at once and commence work. From the crowns of the supers to the crowns of the hives we use ladders of wood about as thick as a child’s finger. On these the bees go up, and commence to build their combs downwards. This is of great importance, for bees naturally build downwards ; and where supers are thus filled, the combs are squared-off and finished before they touch the crowns of the hives. When only half filled they may be lifted and. examined without injury. If guide-combs be not used, the bees would probably com- mence to fill the supers from below and build upwards. Drone-combs are used in supers as guides for this reason, that drones are seldom—we might venture to say are never —hbred in supers of ordinary sizes. These supers of drone-comb are invariably filled with pure virgin-honey. “ But if you had no drone-comb at hand, would you use bits of worker-comb instead?” Yes, certainly, to induce the bees to begin at the tops and build their combs in the natural way. Thus the combs in the supers are at some distance from the brood-combs, till they and the supers are nearly filled with honey. At the season of supering, any bee-keeper may lift one of his hives and cut out of it a few pieces of drone-comb to be used for supering.’ In- 80 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. deed, when we are bending our energies to get many and fine supers of honeycomb, we cut out of our hives all the white drone-comb we can get. We prefer it empty, so that it can be easily fixed in supers before they are put on hives. As soon as such supers are put on, the bees go up amongst the empty combs, fix them more securely, and begin to store honey in them ; and when such supers are taken off, it is found that the clumsy work of the bee- master has been hidden amongst the more perfect work of the bees, These supers are just-as beautiful and sale- able as those that have never been touched and tinkered by the hand of man. One year we made a special effort to get a great number of supers of comb. When all our straw and glass ones were filled, we went to our grocer and bought some small boxes which he had emptied of mustard and other things. They were about 1 foot square and 3 inches deep—just what we wanted. He charged 2d. each forthem. A small hole, 3 inches wide, was cut in the bottom of each box ; then they were filled as full and as neatly as we could with combs (white and beautiful) cut from large hives, and placed on hives ready to fill them with honey. Thus more than half the work was done for the bees before they entered these supers. In placing and fixing empty drone-combs in supers before bees enter them, the bee-master should not forget that there is a right and a wrong way of doing this. The more closely we imitate nature, the more likely are we to succeed. All honey-cells dip to their bottoms ; they are not horizontal. As combs are found and cut out of hives they should be placed in supers. If they be turned bottom upwards, the cells will slope the wrong way, and be much more difficult to fill. Well, then, let the combs be properly placed and partially fixed in the supers. In fixing combs in boxes we begin at one side and finish at SUPERS AND SUPERING. 81 the other. The combs are kept apart by little bits of wax or wood ; the lids are put on before they are placed on full hives. When filled with honey they are taken off, and other empty ones are used in the same way and placed on the same hives. The reader is now asked to take another look at the improved honey-glass. It is narrow at bottom and wider higher up. The lid is movable. It will be seen at once how easy it will be to help the bees to fill this kind of super. When one of these empty glasses is placed on a full hive, we take the lid off and place at once some empty pieces of drone-comb on the crown of the hive inside the glass, and hold them erect and in proper posi- tion by wedges or little bits of comb. The lid is put on, and the super is thickly and warmly covered with cotton- wool or woollen cloths. In a short time the bees adopt and fasten the combs thus put in. “ Why, these combs are 6 inches high to begin with, and the bees are building them upwards!” In filling very large glass supers (now called crystal palaces), to hold, say, from 50 to 100 Ib. of comb, we remove the glass lids, and put in their places wooden or straw ones, with combs attached and pending. Thus the bees have combs artificially fixed from both top and bottom to unite and fill; and, when weather permits, they do it with marvellous dexterity and rapidity. When these supers are filled, the most expert apiarian or dealer in honey could not detect a flaw in them. Supers so filled are perfect in every sense, and cannot be surpassed for excellence by those which may be filled by bees man- aged on the old jog-trot system. When the combs are well united and the supers nearly full, the wooden lids are cut off with a table-knife or bit of fine wire, and the glass ones put on. If the lids are dome-shaped, with a cavity to fill, a few ‘pieces of nice comb may’ be placed on the tups of those broken by the F 82 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. knife or wire, so as to fill the cavity. Then, finally, put on the glass lids. If we have not white empty combs enough to half-fill or quarter-fill a super of glass, a guide-comb is sealed to the wooden lid, and a ladder is given to the bees to go up and commence building at the top. Bees can hold by rough wood and straw, but not by glass; hence the use of wooden lids and ladders. When the combs reach the sides of the glass, the wooden lids may be cut off, and the glass ones restored to their places. With this art of supering unfolded before the reader, he will be able to help his bees to fill supers of any size, and almost in any season. All the honey of refuse combs and old hives may be given to bees when they are filling supers. The filters of bees are so perfect, that not a speck of impurity or a taint of pollen is carried from old combs into supers. Even honey mixed with flour, soil, or bee- bread, is well clarified when given to bees. All apiarians who prefer to eat their honey in virgin-comb may thus have a superabundant supply of it. The introduction of large pieces of unsoiled combs into supers (and feeding with honey when weather is unfavourable) may be com- pared to travelling by express train. The other way, of letting the bees do all the work, is travelling by the parliamentary one, which is longer on the road. We much prefer the speedier way of filling supers. Let us here press on the attention of the reader the necessity of covering glass supers warmly and thickly with some material. If they are not warmly covered, the bees will not work in them ; and if not kept quite dark, the bees will try to shut out the light by bespattering wax on the inside of the glass. There should be no doors in supers. All bees from the outside world should go in by the doors of the hives. If outside workers were permitted to go into supers with SUPERS AND SUPERING,. 83 soiled feet, their combs would soon be discoloured. The housemaids only should enter supers. When supers are full, they should be cut from their hives by a piece of brass wire or small cord. If the wire cut through any honeycomb, the supers should be raised about half an inch by wedges, and left in this position about one or two hours, to let the bees lick the honey from the broken cells, and make all clean and dry. In thirty years we have had three supers only that had brood in them when cut off. The patches of brood were cut out, and honeycombs from other hives were fitted in their places, when the supers were replaced on the hives for two or three days ; and, when finally taken off, the patchwork could not be discovered. The only question now to be considered is how to drive bees from supers after they are cut off. The smoke from fustian rags vigorously blown into the top holes of supers is generally successful. Before this smoke the bees run helter-skelter out of supers into their hives in a short time. In cold weather they are more difficult to drive, and on two or three occasions we have had to place a very small bit of brimstone rag amongst the fustian, the fumes of which frightened the bees out of the supers very quickly. The smallest taste or sniff of it is enough to make them run for their lives. But let us warn the reader of the danger of using brimstone in this work, for the fumes of sulphur are destructive of bee life if not given in the smallest possible doses. And there would be twenty times more difficulty in removing dead bees than living ones from supers well filled with honeycomb. 84 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. CHAPTER XXL EKES. Can bees be prevented from swarming? Yes, by the use of ekes ; and what are these? Additions or enlargements from below—that is to say, eked or lengthened. Hives are eked by riddle-rims, or hoops made of four or five rolls of straw of the same description as those in a straw-hive, the same width as the hives raised by them. These ekes are fastened to the hives by nails or staples going into both, and the junctions covered with any kind of cement or paste. Straw ekes, like straw hives, are better than wooden ones. The sides of an old hive make two ekes, if pro- perly cut and sewed a little. Are ekes better than supers for getting a great weight of honey? Very much; for bees can put more than 3 Ib. of honey into ekes for every 2 Ib. they can put into supers. (This is another proof of the superiority of hives of simple construction over those that are complicated.) Bees not only gather more honey, but they breed more by the use of ekes, and are thus prepared to do more work for the future. The markets will determine whether eking or supering is the most profitable. If the price of honey be ls. per Ib., and comb 1s. 6d. per Ib., the one mode of enlargement will appear equal to the other for profit. In the use of supers there is the risk (in hot seasons very great risk) of swarms coming off unexpectedly and flying away. In the eking mode there is the trouble of extract- ing or running the honey and jarring it for sale. But eking hives does not always prevent their bees from swarming? Not always, but in ninety-nine cases NADIRS., 85 out of a hundred it does. In some hot seasons, and on rare occasions, bees have been known to square the ends of the combs before their hives were quite full, and swarm. This so seldom happens that it may be con- sidered exceptional, and out of the usual run of events. When our hives are timely eked we have never the shadow of a fear that they will send off swarms. It is by the use of large hives and ekes that the bee-master can get his swarms in good seasons to weigh from 100 to 160 lb. each. But why not have hives big enough to do without eking? This question has been already answered. In many cold seasons, swarms cannot fill such large hives ; and it is of great importance to have all hives kept for stock full or nearly full of combs in autumn. When ekes are used, cross-sticks must be put into them at the highest parts, so that the eombs may be fastened. , CHAPTER XXII. NADIRS. Nadirs are the opposites of supers. Nadirs go beneath bee-hives, and supers above them. If a hive which we wish to keep for stock becomes heavy in July, we place a nadir beneath it—that is to say, we lift it off its board, place a hive with cross-sticks and a large crown-hole on the board, then place the full hive on the empty one, pin the two together, and cement the junction. The bees are soon found hanging in a large cluster, like a swarm, through the crown-hole of the nadir. New combs are speedily built from the upper hive, through the crown- 86 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. hole, down to the board ; and in process of time the nadir is filled with combs and brood, almost all the honey going to the upper storey. At the end of the season the top one is taken off for honey, and its bees driven into the bottom hive, which is kept for stock. Nadirs are most useful for early swarms that become heavy before the end of the season. By placing nadirs beneath them, both honey and a stock-hive may be ob- tained. Since the first edition of this work was published, we have had two stock-hives that swarmed with nadirs beneath them, though we never knew a case of the kind before. Last year our earliest swarm was taken off about the 10th of May. By the end of four weeks it was full, and nearly ready for swarming. Instead of taking off a virgin swarm, we placed it on anadir. At the end of the season we found that it weighed 70 Ib. All the bees were driven below, and the top one taken. It weighed 50 Ib., and the nadir 20 lb. We thus got nearly 30 Ib. of honey and a stock-hive from a swarm of May. A few pounds of refuse honey were given to the nadir, which was a strong hive in the spring following. We consider nadirs inferior to ekes when weight of honey is the only object sought. We use and recommend them when both honey and stocks are sought from swarms of the current year. For gaining great profits in a favourable season, and for continued prosperity for a succession of years, the system of having strong hives and early swarms is far before all the other systems of manag- ing bees. Supers, nadirs, and ekes are useful, profitable, and indispensable for hives that require enlarging later in the season. The question of which is best, the interest and aims of the bee-master must determine. ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. 87 CHAPTER XXIII. ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. It does not pay to wait and watch for hives casting, and it does not pay to lose swarms. The adoption of the in- valuable invention of swarming artificially saves the bee- keeper from a world of anxiety and the loss of swarms. Probably Bonner was the inventor of artificial swarming, for he wrote a book about 80 years ago, which my father read at the time. Bonner’s system (with some slight modifications) was adopted by my father, and carried into practice for forty years. He swarmed his bees artificially before he knew the value of fustian smoke for stupefying them. After finishing his day’s work, he often swarmed three or four hives on an evening. The only bee-dress he ever used was a cabbage-blade hung over his face ; and this was for ever cast away when he was taught by an Irishman to use the smoke of fustian rags. The bother of bee-keeping would be too great for us if we did not swarm artificially. We can easily take off four swarms in an hour ; and with the assistance of a lad to drum a bit, we could take off six swarms, place them all in proper places, and cover them up in less than an hour. The process of artificial swarming is a very simple affair—so simple that no person can see it done without understanding it pretty well. It is more easily performed and sooner done than we can describe it with our pen. Take a hive ready for swarming, and a skep prepared to receive the swarm ; another empty hive and a table-cloth or piece of calico are required. These are placed some yards—it does not matter how many—from the old hive to be swarmed. A few puffs of smoke are blown into the hive, which is 88 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. then carried to where the empty hive and calicoare.. It is turned upside down—that is, placed on its crown ; then the empty hive is placed on and over it, and the calico rolled round the junction of the two to keep all the bees in. The hive to receive and contain the swarm for good is placed on the board of the old hive, with a view to prevent the bees flying about from going into other hives. The reason why the hive with cross-sticks is not first placed on the hive to receive the swarm, is owing to the difficulty of seeing the queen in it. The bees would hang in clusters on the sticks ; hence they are first driven into an empty hive, in which the queen is easily seen, then shaken into the other hive prepared to receive the swarm. Now the drumming or driving commences, which is simply done by beating the bottom hive with open hands for about five minutes. This drumming confounds the bees, and causes them to run up into the empty hive, and in nineteen cases out of twenty the queen goes with the bees or swarm so drummed up. But to be quite sure that the queen is with the swarm, we take the hive (now contain- ing the swarm) of the parent hive, turn it upside down, exposing the whole swarm to view, in order to see the queen. She is easily distinguished, and when we have seen her, we take the swarm back to the old stand, and shake all into the hive ready for them, the calico mean- while being spread over the combs and bees in the old hive. The swarm is now placed three, six, or nine feet to the right, and the mother hive as far to the left, of the spot or stand on which it stood before. How easy and simple this work is! how soon over, and how natural it appears! It is just about as easily done as shaking a natural swarm from a branch into an empty hive. Look at the advantages: the bees are not allowed to waste their time in clustering about the door of the hive before swarming ; and this clustering, in some cases and seasons, ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. 89 continues for weeks, Again, the bee-master can use this artificial mode of swarming at his convenience—morning, noon, or evening, and when there is the appearance of a continuation of fine weather. It is a great advantage to a swarm to get three or four fine days after being put into an empty hive. In the chapter on feeding bees, the ad- vantage of feeding young swarms in showery weather will be pointed out. When the first swarms are taken off arti- ficially, a number of royal cells are generally occupied or employed for rearing young queens at the same time—that is to say, three or four queens are set about the same time -—and these coming to perfection together, afford a greater certainty of getting second swarms ; and this is an import- ant affair in an apiary of large hives, for in a honey season large hives that do not send off second colonies become far too heavy for stock-hives. In mentioning the advan- tage of second swarms, we are awarethat the great bulk of English apiarians do not agree with us; but we are fully convinced that as soon as they adopt larger hives, and seek the largest quantity of honey from them, they will con- sider second swarms an advantage—and not a small one. Other favourable views of the advantages of artificial swarming could be presented here, but we think that the fact of its answering as well as natural swarming, and that it can be done in a few minutes at any time of the day, are sufficient to convince every earnest bee-keeper of the folly of waiting and watching day by day for swarms coming off naturally. But the reader may say, “I am timid, and can’t believe that I could manage to swarm my bees.” A great Amer- ican once said: “I can’t do tt never did anything; I'l try has done wonders; but J will do it has performed prodigies.” The reader must allow us to tell him that he can swarm his bees artificially if he wills to do it; and _ What now appear wonders and prodigies in the manage- 90 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. ment of bees, will by-and-by be felt in his hands to be a very simple affair. But suppose the reader adopts this art of swarming, how is he to know when his hives are ready for swarming, and what size of swarms to take when they are ready? These questions are important. A little experience will give more instruction than our pen can. Of course when bees begin to cluster at their doors they are ready for swarming. Large hives seldom cluster outside before swarming, and small ones almost always do. But by using the smoke of fustian rags we can ascertain when hives are ready for swarming—that is to say, full enough for swarming. When smoke is blown into a hive, the bees run up amongst the combs ; and if the hive be lifted off the board, there will be but a thin sprinkling of bees left on it. When they so run up amongst the combs, the hive is not ready to swarm. But when ready, the hive is full of bees, so that the smoke drives them from the door, but not up amongst the combs, which are pretty well packed. Well, on lifting this hive there will be found a rope or ring of bees on the board about as thick as a man’s wrist ; and this rope of bees begins to run over the edges of the board, so that, when the hive is replaced, many bees are on the outside of it, most behind. Of course the number of bees on the board will be greater in some hives than others, according to their construction, size, and ripeness. This is a far better test of the readi- ness of a hive for swarming than the appearance of drones in it, or even the heat or noise of it. A hive is often ready to swarm before drones are perfected in it; and in unfavourable weather, it is often as full of bees as it can hold when there is neither much noise nor heat. The examination should be made when the bees are all at home. The other question may be answered by saying that we ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. 91 follow the rule of the bees themselves. When a swarm comes off naturally, bees enough are left to cover the combs barely or thinly, so that the brood of the hive may be all hatched. In artificial swarming we leave the combs of the old hive as well covered with bees as in natural swarmin’ If too many have been driven up with the swarm, we put a few spoonfuls back ; and if too few have gone with the swarm, we drum up a few more, and unite them. “Of all the ‘Ancient Classics for English Readers’ that have been published, this volume is in our opinion the most fascinating and suit- ablé fofigeneral perusal. It gives the most..complete and varied, the most life-like and sympathetic view of Greek thought, habits, manners, and customs.” —Morning Advertiser, ce . * . 45 GEORGE STREET, EDINBURGH; 37 PATERNOSTER Row, Lonpon. BLACKWOOD’S CLASS - BOOKS. GEOLOGY. INTRODUCTORY TExT-Book oF GEoLocy. By David Page, LL.D., &c., - 2s. 6d. ADVANCED TEXT- Book OF GEOLOGY. By the. same, 7s. 6d. 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